Dragon Hunting 101
by Lerrrroooyyy
Summary: The Academy of Berk is a prestigious boarding school for only the best of the best that offers an elite class that only six students are able to get into. Set somewhere in the 1800s, watch talented huntress Astrid and genius inventor Hiccup as their paths cross.
1. Chapter 1

Hey, guys! My first time actually getting out there and actually attempting something with my life. I'm choosing writing, just as an outlet. I'm not any good at it, never have been. There will be a lot of grammatical errors, I can guarantee that, but I'll try my best to avoid those.

This is my take on an AU of How To Train Your Dragon! I love it so much! Please enjoy, review, and have a good day. The story doesn't really have a set date, but I would place my best bet it would be around the mid-to-late 1800s. Think Victorian, steampunk era, many of those elements will be introduced next chapter, this one will just be a laid back introductory to the story.

It was like any other day, except it wasn't, it was her first day to learn about dragon hunting. Astrid sat down in the front of the classroom ready to learn, her dad always taught her that 'if the professor isn't spitting on you, you aren't close enough'. She pulled out her notebook, writing down stuff she already knew about dragons so that if the teacher asked anyone what they know, she'd be ready.

The grandfather clock ticks a little too loud for her, or maybe the classroom was a little too quiet. The professor hadn't shown up yet, then again class doesn't start for another ten minutes and it was only her and this other kid in the class, a boy who looks just as determined as she was, he too had his materials ready and looked to be jotting stuff down as well.

She couldn't see who he was from the angle he was at, but she swears she knew him from somewhere.

She smiled to herself, at least there weren't any slackers… yet. The Academy of Berk was an elite school, with only a select few of students able to attend. Astrid was able to make it in due to her aptitude for hunting.

And then there was dragon hunting... Now, that was a different level of strict, only six people make it into the class and those six are the best of the best that the town has to offer, dragon hunting was no walk in the park... these six kids have a future of protecting and obliterating the scum of the earth and sending them back to the depths of hell in which they came.

Obviously, she and the boy and the back had already snagged two of the six available spots, she could only imagine who else made it.

She hears the door open and sees two people walk in, she wouldn't be able to tell them apart if it weren't for their genders. Both were blond, lanky and tall, and like most siblings do, they were arguing about something.

"Hey!" the girl exclaimed, "I told you I wasn't going to be the only girl!" She snarked, looking over at her brother who just rolled his eyes.

The girl claimed the seat next to Astrid, while her brother shuffled somewhere towards the back. The girl extends a hand to Astrid, who looks at the girl baffled.

"I'm Ruff, well, actually Val, but my parents came up with Ruff and Tuff for me and my brother and it just kind of stuck with us, I'm pretty sure you can tell why..." Ruff smiled, a little too zealous for Astrid.

Astrid chuckled nervously and shook Ruff's hand.

"Astrid," she said simply, unsure of what else to say. She scratched her head nervously and went back to jotting stuff down. She looked back up at the clock, six more minutes.

The last two students came in with only a minute to spare, one was tall, muscular and nice looking in the face. Astrid felt her heart flutter a bit, but shook her head and firmly reprehended herself.

No, no time for relationships or any of that crap. This is the moment I've been waiting for my whole life, she thought her self, no time for fooling around.

But, Ruff leaned next to her and whispered, "I could make some sweet music to that" as the boy passed by, Astrid made a surprised giggle and the two girls laughed.

He ended up taking a seat next to Tuff and they seem to have bonded quickly or had already known each other, cause as the nice-faced boy had sat down, they fist bumped.

The kid following behind him was very unfortunate looking, to say the least. He was porky, with a round face and a mop of straw yellow hair on his head. Even though she thought he looked unfortunate, Astrid could've sworn she heard Ruff quietly purr when he passed by. He took a seat next to the boy who was early with her.

The clock read 0800, and the professor hobbled into the class. Everyone's eyes locked on the peg he had for one of his legs. The professor merely chuckled, placing a stack of books he was holding onto the desk in front of the room, gazing at his students.

He cleared his throat, "I'm Professor Goddard, but I'm know to most as 'Gobber' for many reasons, you can call me either," he started. He hobbled over to the blackboard, picking up a piece of a piece of chalk and messy writing "Dragon Basics" on the board, he turned.

"Welcome everyone, welcome to Dragon Training".


	2. Chapter 2

**Omg, people actually read this?! I'm so happy, you guys don't know how much this warms my heart. 3 This is a longer chapter… more introduction, which will probably be like this for another couple chapters, just to set the story. Enjoy~**

Gobber handed everyone a book titled "The Basics to Knowing Dragons". Astrid flipped through the book, skimming the pages, mesmerized by the knowledge she has yet to discover. Ruff awed at the book. Astrid, interested, leaned over and looked at what she was gawking at.

Nightfury was the header of the page. Astrid never saw a Nightfury in real life, only in pictures. She found them beautiful in a demented way that made her guts turn when she thought the enemy was beautiful. Ruff looked over at her and said something along the lines of 'Cool, right?', Astrid didn't hear the entirety of the statement, but she nodded, staring deeply into the eyes of the Nightfury on the page.

Gobber clears his throat and hobbled back to the front of the room when he finished passing out the books.

"These aren't just books," he started, "these are your lives these are the livin' essence of knowin' the dragons you'll be facin' and how to take them down."

He grumbled and little and pulled out a contraption that resembled a metal sphere. It wasn't any bigger than a lemon. Astrid knew automatically what it was when he pulled it out. It was a common weapon used during hunting.

"Can an'one tell what this beauty is?" Gobber drawled. Astrid's hand shot out of her lap, but not fast enough, as Gobber called on someone in the back.

Astrid's head shot around and glared at the person who took her glory. It was the boy she couldn't recognize.

"Ah, Hicc-, err, I mean Hugo. Care to share?" Gobber chuckled at his little rhyme. The boy cleared his throat.

Th _Hugo_ , Astrid thought, _Hugo, Hugo…_

"It's a Horndoscope, it sends out pulses of energy, disorienting the dragons and temporarily paralyzes then when activated by the user and has made contact with the desired target," Hugo said, almost reciting the explanation as if he'd read it from a textbook.

"Very good!" Gobber was pleased, "though, it's basic knowledge to know what a Horndoscope is. It's a very useful object that may seem unimportant, but deems to be quite useful," the teacher mused.

He continued on the basics and fundamentals of a Horndoscope, Astrid scribbled down every word that left Gobber's mouth. She wouldn't get down just because she didn't answer the first question of the year.

Gobber finished up his lecture. He turned to the class of fascinated apprentices.

"I never really like teachin' from a book…" Gobber grumbled, "so, that's why we are going to do hands-on practice today!" He exclaimed happily.

The nice faced boy gasped. "You mean, like, we're gonna train with dragons on the first day of class?" He sounded more scared than excited.

"Exactly," Gobber stated simply, with a proud smile on his face and his hands on his wide hips.

"We don't even know the basics of dragons!" The nice faced boy exclaimed.

Astrid scoffed, maybe he didn't, but Astrid at least knew the main points. Stay out of the way and go for the kill when appropriate.

"Exactly, why teach the basics when you can learn them yerselves and adapt as needed in the situation?" Gobber poised a fair point, the people in town who knew nothing about dragons had to do the same.

Half the class looked pale, Astrid turn to see if Hugo still looked determined. Hugo looked like he had a particularly nasty stomach ache when he heard this.

Now that she had a good look at him, there really wasn't much there to him. He looked too skinny to be a Dragon Hunter. His torso was probably as wide as one of Gobber's legs and attached to his torso was lame excuses for appendages, they looked like toothpicks to Astrid.

 _Can he even lift a harpoon?_ She snickered to herself.

The class stood up and headed towards the door. Gobber led the class down the long corridor towards the back of the academy. The building was beautiful. White tile floors, rustic red bricks for the walls and dome roofs with dragons painted on the sides with a window on top, acting as a roof to the dome.

Astrid was right behind Gobber, who led them outside, they passed the courtyard and into the forest where the class saw a huge caged dome about a half a mile away from the main building.

As they reached the dome, Gobber handed out a Horndoscope to every student. Astrid stared at it, it was small and cool. It was a shade of dark gray, with a black line wrapping around the center of the contraption.

"How do we use it?" Tuff asked, "you told us what it does and when the best scenarios are to use them, but, how do we actually use them?" The boy looked at it baffled, pressing every spot on it.

His finger pressed one spot on the top of the orb and it uncompressed, the black line split to reveal a stopwatch-like interior. It had a bunch of gears the appeared to be motionless.

"Ah! Very good, Vince!" Gobber motioned to Tuff's open orb.

Everyone had already done the same, pressing the top of one of the domes, staring baffled at the thing. Gobber opened the one he held and twisted one of the domes slightly counterclockwise. Nothing happened until Gobber twisted the other dome once and pressed it in and the gears ticked to life. Gobber took the Horndoscope and threw it pass the group into an open clearing. Still, nothing happened, until the ticking stopped and a pulsating wave shot out of the dome, with a radius of about five feet charring the grass around it.

The group's excitement lifted when they saw what this dubious device could do. Gobber cleared his throat.

"One side activates the timer, which won't activate the Horndoscope until you set the level of energy, one click does it for smaller dragons, two for the medium, and three for larger threats. Press the energy setter dome in and throw at your designated target. Make sure to stay out of the blast range, of course," He explained.

It all made sense now. Astrid looked close at the contraption. On one done was engravings of a clock face, and the other side was labeled wit and 3.

"Today's objective is to disarm and disorient a dragon. We'll only be usin' energy levels 1, I don't wanna see anyone endin' up fryin' their brains." He stated.

"What dragon are we facing?" The porky kid asked, his legs shaking slightly.

"I'm glad you asked!" Gobber shouted, a little too excited compared to the rest of his group.

"Nothing serious, just a Gronckle." He mused. Astrid heard someone whimper. She felt a little queasy herself. Just cause they were best of the best didn't mean the couldn't be frightened.

"Who remembers the weak point for a Gronckle?" Gobber asked. Once again, Astrid's hand shot up.

"Their hearing sensors, which are close to their face." Astrid heard from behind her. She glared at the person who called out the answer. It was Hugo. She stomped her foot into the ground.

"Very good. Remember that when you activate the Horndoscope, clear out, if you think you're far enough, you aren't." Gobber warned.

He led them down a ramp to a grate covered entrance. Gobber leaned down and pulled the stakes that anchored the grate up out of the ground with a powerful tug. All the child-likeness drained from his face.

"Be careful, that's my only warnin' to ya." He said, the seriousness etched in his face. Astrid entered the ring first, with the rest following her. She looks around, it looked like an empty fighting arena, and on the other side of it was a metal door that more than like contained their foe.

Gobber cranked the metal door open and the fat, gargoyle-eqse dragon emerges, his wings buzzing about. The team readied their orbs, their fingers ready to press the activate button. The dragon launched a fireball at the group.

Astrid, quick on her feet, leaped out of the way.

"Run!" She barked. The group scattered out of the way just as the fireball came in contact with the ground they were just standing on.

"Clear!" Astrid heard, she turned to see the nice faced boy launching his Horndoscope. He misses by a good four feet. The nice faced boy squealed as the dragon charged him.

Ruff and the porky boy had thrown there's already. Ruff's barely touching the dragon and the porky boys launched a little too high, flying over the dragon and landing across the arena. Astrid saw if land where Hugo was cowering. He looked nervous and like he was about to pass out. She saw Hugo noticed the flyaway Horndoscope. He dashed out of the proximity of the contraption, charging directly at the hovering dragon who was still chasing the nice faced boy.

She charged for the hovering dragon as well, about to arm her device, when she saw a Horndoscope about to attach itself a couple inches from the dragon's "ear".

Not today. She thought, arming her device. She was about to throw it when she felt someone crash into her.

She fell, along with her Horndoscope right next to her and the person who'd crashed into her. She set it to five seconds, so when she saw it about to go off, she grabbed the person who'd fallen with her, grasping them close to her and began to roll away from the device.

It detonated not even a second later, she felt the pulsing energy slightly, but she was far enough away where it only stung slightly.

She sighed in relief, pushing herself to her knees and looking back at what had happened, the Gronckle was on the ground in a dazed state. Then a switch flipped and a beast erupted inside her. Her head shot in the direction of the person who'd crashed into her. It was Hugo.

" _You!_ " She hissed. Hugo looked more than apologetic. He raised his hands up in defense, still on the ground, as she pushed herself off the ground, charging over to him.

"I'm sor-" He was cut off by her foot being planted on his chest, shoving him onto his back into the ground.

"You think this is some game?!" She barked, " I don't think you realize that your life isn't the only one on the line in here!"

"I-I know, I…" She shoved him harder into the ground.

"I don't think you do, bec-" She was cut off by Gobber, who was hobbling over.

"Enough!" He stated, "Astrid get your foot off him. I will both see you in my office later this evening." He said disappointed.

Astrid shoved him into the ground one more time before lumbering out of the arena with the rest of the class, she turned to see Hugo… Hiccup? Helped up and reprimanded by Gobber.

She scoffed. _Serves him right._

 **That's it for chapter two. I know, probably a bunch of boring stuff, but we'll get to some juicy character developement next chapter!**

 **I just want to give a shout out to: Anonymous Noob the 2nd, Heartless Romatics, artsoccer, elnine27, and Cryptodraconis noctis, for liking and favoriting my story on the first chapter! You guys rock!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Pluggin' and chuggin' another chapter before school work piles up again… Enjoy~**

Hiccup accidentally threw his Horndoscope at the Gronckle. He cursed under his breath but saw it attached itself a couple away from the hearing sensor. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, that when he decided to take in his surroundings he saw he was in the blast range of the device. He yelped and turned around to run away when he crashed into something soft. He tumbled down to the ground with the thing. He looked over and saw a charged up Horndoscope next to his face, but he won't be fast enough to avoid it.

He felt something grab fistfuls of his vest and yank him in a rolling direction away from the device. He heard it detonate, stinging him slightly.

Slightly dazed and confused on what just happened, he heard someone hiss 'you!', he looked up and saw Astrid in all her beauty charging at him. He realized why and pushed himself to a sitting position.

"I'm sor-" Something sharp made his chest collapse causing he to be winded. She had jabbed her foot into him, shoving him to the ground.

She went on about how he could've killed them both and how his life wasn't the only here. He was so shocked all he could muster was a "I-I know… I" before he felt her foot press into his chest even harder.

Then she was reprimanded by Gobber, who told them both to report to his office later that evening. Astrid gave him a death glare and trudged out of the arena with the rest of the class, as the school bell had just rung.

Was is already that late? He was helped up by Gobber who looked sadly down at him.

"Hiccup, I know your father made me put you in my class 'cause he's governor and all and he thought you stood a chance, but from what you pulled today I-" Hiccup cut him off.

"I-I'm really sorry… I am! It was a mistake, i-it was the first day!" He defended himself. It was the first day and it was him who took down the Gronckle, who was slowly coming back to its senses now.

"I-I know," Gobber looked conflicted, he hooked the Gronckle on his hook and started pulling it back to the enclosure, "but, Hiccup, I can't have you messing up with my Hunters, I really feel good about this group…"

"Ye-yeah, but I was the one who took out the Gronckle," He stated, standing a little taller, slightly puffing out his chest.

"This is true," Gobber contemplated, "but your actions almost took out one of my students…"

"Come on, Gobber. It was just the first day…" Hiccup moaned. Gobber sighed and nodded.

"I know, I know," He closed the cage door after putting the Gronckle up, "I expect you to put in double time down at the shop today." Hiccup nodded eagerly and followed him out of the arena.

Astrid sighed, as she reached her dorm.

There was the thing at Berk Academy. It was a boarding school. Since it was as prestigious as it was, the professors wanted to keep an eye on the students at all time to make sure they weren't slacking off.

Astrid saw Ruff sitting on one of the beds that occupied the small, but cozy room. Ruff looked up and grinned.

"Hey! It's you, Mrs. I-just-saved-someone-on-the-first-day!" She teased. Astrid rolled her eyes.

"I shouldn't have, that Hugo… Hiccup...whatever that stupid kid's name is got me in trouble with the teacher!" She vented.

"Yeah, but I don't think anything bad will happen, Gobber'll probably just make you watch your temper a little bit better," she winked. Astrid chuckled slightly and saw that her uniform was covered in dirt from rolling out of danger's was earlier.

"So, how'd you make it into Berk?" She heard Ruff ask, obviously trying to keep the awkward silence away.

"Umm, I'm pretty good at hunting," she started, "used to go with my parents all the time in the fields if we ever saw a dragon get too close." She smiled at those memories, "then my parents died and Gobber found me in an orphanage with a knack for killing".

"Dragons?" Ruff asked. Astrid looked at her confused. "Did dragons get your parents?" She asked. Astrid smiled slightly and shook her head sadly.

"Surprisingly no, they went on vacation across seas, on the way back their ship was hit…. They didn't find any survivors…" She felt tears prickle at her eyes, but she dismissed them and found her baggage in a corner of the room and began to unpack. She heard sniffling, she turned to see Ruff almost in tears.

"T-that's so sad!" She burst out into tears. Astrid was dumbfounded. She shook her head and walked over to the way too distraught girl and patted her on the back.

"It really isn't," she said, reassuring her, "it happened so long ago…" She thought of something to try and lighten the mood, "so, how'd you and your brother get into Berk?" She asked awkwardly. She wasn't used to talking to people. Back in the orphanage, it was every man for themselves.

It seemed to work as Ruff's face brighten as she wiped away the tears.

"Well," she sniffled, "it's a joint effort between my and I, together we worked together well and helped with a couple raids. Gobber saw our teamwork and invited us to join. My parents were more ecstatic than us, they wanted us out of the house because we bickered and fought so much. It's actually kind of funny know that I think about it. If I were them, I'd do the same." She laughed, Astrid joined in a little too.

They bonded as they unpacked their things together and setting up the room to where it met both of their standards.

"Dinner's about to start," Ruff said looking over at the grandfather clock that stood in between the beds, "wanna head out with me?"

As much as Astrid wanted to, she couldn't.

"Can't," She snapped, "I have to go and see Gobber and " _Hiccup"_ ," Astrid said mockingly. Ruff made and 'oh' noise, bidding her farewell and left the room. Astrid huffed and headed back to her Dragon Hunting class.

When she arrived, she already saw Hiccup standing there, talking to Gobber about something.

"Ah, Astrid, nice of you to finally join us," Gobber teased. Astrid blushed slightly said sorry and went on to glare at Hiccup. He stepped back when she stood next to him, front in center of Gobber's desk, Hiccup looked pale and looked like he was expecting her to punch him in the face, which was tempting, but she didn't want to risk getting kicked out on the first day.

"Now, despite the events that took place in the pit today, I'm willin' to give you both a second chance, " Gobber started, "Hiccup", Hugo looked upset that Gobber referred to him by his unfortunate nickname, "Mighty fine aim today, but you almost took Astrid's and your life in the process, and Astrid I would have reacted the same as well, but this is a small class and it's going to be a long year if you guys don't start off on the right foot," He tried to help mend the two, but Astrid wasn't going to give up so easily.

"Now, we can either do this the easy way or the hard way," he began, "you can both apologize to each other and move on, or you can have a rocky relationship and potentially be kicked out of the academy".

Astrid started sweating. She couldn't let one slip up cost her the best thing that's happened to her in awhile, so she turned to Hiccup, extending her hand. Hiccup looked down at it, unsure of what was happening. She extended her hand closer to him and pretended to clear her throat. Hiccup made an 'oh' face and took her hand. She squeezed his hand as hard as she took, Hiccup flinching in response.

"I'm. Sorry. _Hiccup_." She said, shaking his hand on each word, squeezing his hand a little tighter each time. He worriedly looked at the state of his hand. It looked up at him as if it were dying.

"I-I'm sorry, Astrid," he said quietly, trying to pull his dying hand away. She let go away a couple seconds later. Gobber smiled at the two.

"See? That wasn't so hard, and since you two did such a great job, I'm assigning you as partners for the rest of the year" He smiled.

Hiccup heard a strange noise erupt from Astrid. He started sweating when Astrid glared at him harder, he didn't even know that was possible. He gulped and looked back at Gobber worriedly.

"B-but, I apologized!" Astrid burst. Gobber shook his head.

"You did, but you didn't _mean_ it," he teased. Astrid looked incredulous. "Besides, I don't feel like kicking either of you out. I gave you chance, but I guess we'll have to do this from now on".

Hiccup frowned.

"Good luck on your new friendship, I'll see you tomorrow" He smiled, waving his hook at them. They both took that as a sign to leave. Astrid went first, Hiccup following behind slowly.

When they made it outside the classroom and a couple paces down the hall toward the dining room, Hiccup attempted to make the most of it.

"H-hey, Ast-" He was cut off by her turning and pinning him against the wall, a snarl plastered on her face.

"Don't even try. We. Are. Not. Friends." She slammed him onto the wall again, he winced as he felt his head smack against the bricks. She turned and continued down the hall. He was already tired of her crap.

"Hey! You're not the only one who's has to do this!" He called after her. She stopped, turned, and crossed her arms slighty leaning over to one side.

"Oh, how rich, since when did you start to care about others?" She shot back at him. He sighed.

"Lo-look," he said walking closer to her, "I know neither of this wants this, but Gobber is a stubborn man and won't change his mind… s-so let's just make the most of this. Please." He said, trying to sound as sincere as he could, holding out his hand for a truce.

She stared at him for a moment, like she was weighing her options or something, when she caved in and grabbed his hand, gentler than the last time. They shook hands and continued down the hall together.

"S-so-" He tried to sound normal, but he was cut off.

"Don't even try to make conversation with me yet. Just because we truced doesn't mean I have to start being nice, _Hiccup._ " She stated coldly but he could detect some joking in her voice deep down.

Hiccup just awkwardly walked next to her, looking up at the paintings of the dragons. He decided he wasn't hungry and turned to head for the shop early. Astrid actually stopped to see what he was doing. He blushed slightly and turned to her.

"I'm gonna head off to work, don't miss me too soon," he playfully winked at her and stumbled down the hall. _Smooth, Hiccup, smooth._

 **Ooo some character development and more plot! I know the first chapters are kind of slow, but the next one is something good (I hope)! I don't know when I'll be able to get it out, maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow, maybe a couple days from now, but we'll see.  
I wish y'all the best.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey y'all! We've reached 100+ views! Thank you so much! I haven't heard any ill of this story yet, so I'll assume everyone is enjoying it. Reviews with criticism, praises, or what your favorite cookie is, is always welcomed (chocolate chip is master race, then again cookies are just good in general…). Enjoy!**

Hiccup entered the shop. The scent of tanned leather and sawed wood filling his nostrils. He took off his vest, hanging it on a coat hanger and rolled up his sleeves, prepping everything for tomorrow when the shop would open. It was too late to open now, so Hiccup went to the list of tasks needed to be done in order to be ready. He snatched a piece of parchment off the nearby table.

" _Someone needs this done… someone needs that done…"_ He said in a monotone, sarcastic voice. He pulled out leather tanner and conditioner and got to work on Mr. McCullough's "prized" saddle.

After a couple hours and Hiccup could feel his eyes start to burn and decided to start wrapping it up when he heard an alarm go off.

 _Dragon raid_. He rushed to the window and looked out to see a mob of people emerge from the separate shops and houses outside, some looking around, some already preparing for the oncoming onslaught. Hiccup rushed to the back of the shop to a conjoined workshop, in a building next door that connected to the tannery, for weapons and gadgets that were in the process being repaired or created.

He flung open the wooden shutters, turned on the torches to light up the room. As he did that, Gobber hobbled into the shop hurriedly, cursing something under his breath. He saw Hiccup standing there awkwardly.

"Well, don't just stand there!" He grumbled, switching his hook attachment to a blacksmith hammer, preparing for the mob of people who would need something fixed.

Hiccup jumped at his statement and pretended to be busy by heating up the already scalding flames for smithing. Then, he got a thought that this raid would be a perfect opportunity to test his dragon killing skills and possibly impress Gobber.

Hiccup rushed to put his vest back on and got geared up. Grabbing a couple Horndoscopes, daggers, arrows and a thin blade, but then he looked at a contraption that he'd been working on the last couple months that was sitting in the corner.

It was essentially a net launcher that's function was to capture dragons out of the sky and have them restrained as they hit the ground so that capturing or killing them would be easier. Hiccup had tinkered enough with it that he thought he'd be able to test it tonight.

He ran over and started to wheel it out of the shop.

"And, where to do you think you're goin'?" Gobber called after him. Hiccup stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned to him.

"T-to go and help out with the raid," he started, "an-and to test out my dragon killing for class?" He said with an unconvincing grin plastered on his face.

Gobber looked like he was about to say no when an older Dragon Hunter laid his busted harpoon gun down on the workbench in front of Gobber, saying something along the lines of 'there's too many, at this rate the town will be destroyed by tomorrow'. The Dragon Hunter looked very distressed and kept looking behind his shoulder and then whispered in a low voice to Gobber, "someone has sighted a Nightfury in the area".

Hiccup heard and took this information as his saving grace. While Gobber began talking to the hunter, Hiccup rushed out of the shop, pushing his Bolas in front of him trying to navigate through the mass of citizens running around the small town. He heard Gobber shout after him, but he kept running.

A smile appeared on his face if he took down that Nightfury, he'd be the first to do it and would get back on his father's good side and be the crowning jewel of the town. He just needed to get to the outskirts where he would have a better vantage point.

As he made his way through town, a fireball landed right in front of Hiccup, throwing him back a couple feet. He was mostly unharmed, he made away with a couple burns and scrapes, but he was more worried about the state of his Bolas. He looked it over and it seemed mostly intact. He got back to his feet, eyes wide, staring and the decent crater in front of him. He gulped, sweat dripping down his pale face. He heard someone scream, his head snapping in the direction from which the sound came. A Zippleback had made away with someone's house, more than likely creating a distraction for the couple of Nadder's who'd flown by, taking their leave with a couple of cows and sheep.

He dusted himself off and continued with his mission: take down the Nightfury. He kept rushing till he came to a clear opening, discarding most of his weapons so he could better assess the damage of his Bolas and set it up. Nothing major had happened, minor splits at some of the seams of the wood and one of the wheels had been knocked loose, but nothing to stop him from completing his task.

"Come on, come on… give me something…. _anything_ " he pleaded, looking desperately through his sight for that something or anything. He heard a high-pitched whistle and something black shoot across the sky, destroying one of the watchtowers nearby with a blue bolt of fire. Hiccup recoiled at the destruction, but quickly looked through the sight of his Bolas and locked in on the black mass in the sky. It moved too fast to stay locked on it long enough to get a clear shot when his finger slipped and the Bolas the net at breakneck speed.

"No!" He panicked, that was his only shot. He sat there distraught. He saw the net travel a bit further when it wrapped around something and caused the thing to fall from the sky, crashing into a forest nearby.

"Yes!" He exclaimed throwing a fist into the air and jumping. He ran around in circles, his head in his hands. "I did it, I did it, I did it!" He repeated, get louder each time he said it.

He disassembled his Bolas and started wheeling it back into town. When he got there, everyone looked like hell. Several houses were burning or were already decimated and most of the dragons had cleared out. He saw a couple lifeless Gronckles, but it appeared the dragons had bested the town. He looked around as he headed back into the workshop. Gobber was no longer there, in fact, Gobber had closed the shop, the torches were turned off and the wooden shutters were closed again.

Hiccup's happiness wore off and he saw the state of the town as he heads back out of the shop. _What was he thinking? They needed him back here and all he did was try to deem himself worthy!_ His stomach squelched from his shame, and knowing him, he probably didn't even shoot down a Nightfury, it's was probably a large bird or something.

Hiccup entered his dorm room around 2100, he looked to find his roommate and heard noises coming from the small bathroom inside the room.

"H-hello?" Hiccup called out. Walking over to the slightly cracked open bathroom door. The door swung open and inside was his seat buddy, his face wet with residue of char and scrapes all up and down his body.

"Hey! You're that kid from class today!" Hiccup awkwardly scratched his head and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm "that" kid," He said, "My is actually Hugo, though." He smiled slightly. The kid held out his hand.

"I'm Boris, most people call me 'Fishlegs', though…" He sighed looking off to the side.

"Fishlegs? What's the story behind that?" Hiccup inquired.

Fishlegs exited the bathroom, passing Hiccup and claimed one of the beds in the room.

"Ah, funny you should ask, I've been picked on a bunch most of my life and most people caught on that when I'm frightened my legs tend to shake kind of like fishes on dry land." Fishlegs sighed, pulling out his suitcase from under his bed and began unpacking.

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Hiccup said, looking off to one side of the room, "if it makes you feel any better, my nickname is "Hiccup" because my father says I'm always making mistakes or making his life miserable, which I guess correlates to a messed up diaphragm and how hiccups are annoying, I guess? Not quite sure…" Hiccup pondered on why his dad had picked "Hiccup" instead of something more classy like 'dumbass' or 'worthless son of mine'.

"Oh great, I guess we're in the same boat for unfortunate nicknames," Fishlegs chuckled, "would you prefer me to call you Hugo or Hiccup?" He turned to look at Hiccup.

Hiccup had never had the power to determine what people called him. They usually deemed him whatever they pleased, but now that he had a choice it felt like he had so much power.

"Either one is fine, my preference has never stopped anyone from calling me what they choose." He took the neutral route, attempting to play it cool.

"I feel you, bud. Same goes for me, call me whatever you like," Fishlegs flashed him a warm smile. Hiccup flushed a little, he'd never been shown respect before, let alone have someone talk to him willingly.

"T-thanks," He kind of squawked. He headed to collect his stuff from the corner of the room, hauling his luggage over to his bed, opening his suitcase he pulled out tinkering, leatherworking, and engineering books and placed them on the tiny wooden shelf that sat a couple feet above his bed, placing various trinkets and gadgets he'd created next to those.

After they both had finished unpacking, they decided getting some shut-eye would be great. They changed into their night attire and dimmed the lights, they didn't shut them completely off cause Fishlegs said he felt uneasy in the dark, said goodnight to each other and climb into their subsequent beds

As Hiccup lie sleepily in his bed, his mind became filled with what he'd shot out of the sky. He thought _maybe, just maybe it was a Nightfury…_

 **And that's a wrap till at least Sunday, I have some** _ **tres**_ **important stuff to do, cause I'm such a good little angel and my parents should be proud that they spawned a little creature that became me. I'm going to try to keep pumping out chapters as best I can, but they will take some thought and planning. I already had the basis for the first couple chapters, but now I need to start piecing the story together to make (or at least attempt) a cohesive story.**

 **Once again, y'all are great, and I would like to shout out to everyone, mostly the ones who've taken the time to favorite and review my story and say thank you again. It warms my heart so much.**

 **And I'm serious, tell me y'all's favorite cookies.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, so, I might've lied when I said I couldn't update till Sunday… My mind is always thinking of new stuff for this story and I just had to**

 **type up something! It's a small chapter, but it's something… Enjoy~**

Hiccup lied awake most of the night, barely getting any sleep. He turned to look at a sleeping Fishlegs who slept like a baby surprisingly. Hiccup thought a kid that size would keep him up snoring the whole night, but he didn't snore and Hiccup still didn't get any sleep.

Hiccup's mind wandered to what he shot down… Wondering if it was still trapped or managed to get out of his net. He looked out the window, the sun was steadily rising over the horizon. He then looked at the clock 0600. He pushed himself to a sitting position, curiosity flooding every part of his body. He swung his legs over his bed and quietly crept to the bathroom to change into more appropriate attire for exploring.

He made his way back to the clearing he was at yesterday getting a feel from where he remembered seeing the creature fall. He made his way in the direction he thought best, entering the dense forest. He pulled out his journal and a pencil, scratching down a rough draft of the area. Making X's for every path that didn't lead to the dragon.

It got to a point where he was tired and there were so many incorrect paths that he screamed angrily, scribbling over his map and shouting, "how the hell did I misplace a dragon?!"

He came to a clearing with a branch in the way, he angrily smacked it and it retaliated by smacking him back across the face. He erupted in a fit of rage, yanking the branch off the tree from which it grew and smacking everything in sight until the branch was nothing more than a half a foot stub. He threw the stub off into the forest, looking away from where he was walking to see how far it went when he tripped into a ditch, smacking his head on the cool forest floor. He was tired and didn't have the energy to get angry again, so he stood brushing himself off about to head back. Except, he noticed that the ditch he was in looked like it had just been made, almost like something crashed here… he put two and two together and charged in the direction the ditch led him until he saw something huge and black laying on the ground a couple feet ahead of him.

Hiccup yelped and dove behind a nearby rock, slowly peeking his head above it to observe the beast from a somewhat safe position. It was a dragon he'd never seen before, completely black and…

"Oh my god, it's a Nightfury!" He exclaimed, remembering a picture he saw once. No one had ever seen a Nightfury, only speculation of what one might look like. He crawled out from behind the rock, creeping slowly towards the beast, "I've-I've done it! I have slain this mighty-" Hiccup was shoved back by something.

His head shot in the direction of the dragon, it's piercing lime green eyes staring right into his emerald green ones. Hiccup gulped, fumbling for his dagger and shakingly holding it out in front of him, pointing at the dragon.

The dragon didn't do anything, not that it could do much since it was caught in a complex tangle of ropes, it just stared at him with an empty stare, showing no emotion. Hiccup walked up to the dragon pointing the dagger at its chest cavity.

"I'm gonna kill you, I'm gonna…" Hiccup's voice trailed off as he looked back into the dragon's eyes. Its pupils were wide and it was slightly shaking. Hiccup felt the sweat build up and drip down his face. He pulled his hand up and pull the dagger down. The dragon screamed out in fear, Hiccup stopped himself a couple centimeters above the dragon, tears filling his eyes.

"I-I did this," he looked up and down the dragon, the tears dripping down his face, "I-I just wanted to make my father proud an-and look at me now… Not even able to finish the deed…" His voice becoming more stuttered. The dragon looked at him as if he understood what Hiccup was saying.

Hiccup, through teary eyes, looked at the dagger in his shaking hands and then at the ropes that encircled the dragon. He breathed in and began to cut the ropes, one by one. The dragon stared at him bewildered until he could move again, with lightning quick speed the dragon pinned Hiccup to the rock he was just hiding behind, it felt like a ton of bricks had just fallen onto him as he gasped for air. Hiccup stared into the dragon's eyes, he thought, _this is it… this is how I go out…_ The dragon looked just as turmoiled as Hiccup did earlier like it was debating if it wanted to kill him or not. He saw the dragon pull its head back, Hiccup clenched his eyes shut, feeling another round of tears coming on. The dragon roared above Hiccup, Hiccup clenched his body as he felt something burst inside his head, then he felt the weight of the dragon push off of him. He opened his eyes and saw the black creature zoom deeper into the forest.

Hiccup lied there like a dead fish. His brilliant green eyes the size of saucers and his skin pale and clammy. He still felt the weight of the dragon on him, his body still feeling like it was being shoved into the ground, his breathing becoming faster and unsteady, like his lungs were about to give out and they were trying to get the last bit of oxygen they could. He rubbed his hands along the ground searching for his dagger, his hand clasping around the leather wrapped handle when he found it. He rolled himself over and pushed himself to his hands and knees, his body feeling like it was made out of steel. He felt something drip off his face that wasn't sweat. He ran a hand along his face, coming into contact was something warm and slippery. He pulled his hand away from his face and examined it: blood.

He found the source being his ear, that "something" that burst in his head was his eardrum. His head throbbed and his stomach squelched. His turned and threw up all of his stomach contents. He crawled away from that spot, only to make it a couple feet away before he dropped to the ground passing out.

 **YAY TOOTHLESS FINALLY APPEARS! MY BABY.**

 **Like I said, just a small chapter. I don't know when I'll be putting up the next one, as you guys can tell, I updated whenever…**

 **And… OMG GUYS WE REACH 300+ views and got more members to the family! Just a quick shout out to my new members:** **TimPlazasta** **,** **HighKingsRuin** **,** **Jlia Toyansk** **,** **Someone 086** **, and** **VictoriaEmma** **! Thanks for following and favoriting, welcome to the family!**

 **Reviews with criticism, praises, and what you OTP (mine is obviously Hiccup x Astrid) is, is always welcomed!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Yay, another chapter~ AND YOU GUYS… WE REACHED 10 followers and over 420 (blaze) views! Thank you so much. You guys don't even realized how much this means to me. Seeing people actually like my story that I thought of and started writing about makes me so happy! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Enjoy, I think you'll like this chapter~ (it is a bit short, I'm sorry…)**

Hiccup woke a couple hours later, dirt and drool crusted around his mouth. He slowly opened his eyes to see the forest greet him. Dazed, confused, and groggy, he sat up looking around, reality not quite sinking in. It was almost like he was in a dream. He got up without a care in the world and headed back to town, the sun was hidden by a bunch of ominous, it wasn't raining, but it was coming.

Hiccup trudged back into town, peers staring at his blood and dirt crusted face. He headed for the workshop, when he heard a faint voice saying something, he figured it was a conversation between two townsmen, but then something grasped his shoulder turned him around.

"Hic-," it was Gobber, he went from looking angry to slightly concern, "my god boy, what happened to ya?" He examined the boy's face which was covered in dried blood. Hiccup, groggy and not quite all there shrugged.

"We need to get ya to a hospital," Gobber wrapped his arm around the poor boy, leading, practically carrying him to the town's clinic across the way. They entered the building; it was a long room with a bunch of beds on either side of the room starting at one wall and going all the way to the other end with nightstands in between each bed. One of the beds had been surrounded with dividers so the patient on the inside couldn't be seen.

Gobber led Hiccup to one of the closer beds as a physician had come out of the back, he noticed the two and rushed over.

"What seems to be the pro-" he physician had noticed Hiccup and all of his glory looking like he was about to pass out again, "Ah, Haddock's boy… what has he gotten into this time?"

Hiccup was no stranger to the clinic, from testing out his inventions to attempting to face dragons by himself, he'd graced his presence here many times. The doctor who had come up to them had worked on Hiccup plenty of times, his name was Dr. Tennant. He pulled out a gadget that was inserted gently into Hiccup's ear, the doctor looked around, gently pulling Hiccup's ear in different directions to get a view of the damage from different angles.

"His eardrum is ruptured," he let go of the boy's head and began to examine his eyes, pulling out a light and shining it into Hiccup's left eye, again pulling his eyelid in different directions to get different viewpoints, "and he's got a concussion… good lord, Hiccup, what did you do?"

Hiccup tried to answer but slipped out of consciousness again, the last thing he heard was, "that's not good" and seeing Dr. Tennant running out of view.

It must've been another couple of hours that Hiccup slept, as when he opened his eyes it was late in the afternoon. It was hard to breathe, it felt like something was crushing his lungs. With insurmountable effort, he got himself into a somewhat of a sitting position, his whole body feeling limp, he looked around, except a divider surrounded his bed blocking his view. He sighed.

 _I'm in the med bay… again…_ He slipped off the bed he occupied, his body almost dropping to the floor if it wasn't for the bed in which he used to support himself, he limped over to the divider, an arm wrapped around his chest, he slid the divider over to get a view of the med bay. He noticed the bed to his left was occupied, except there wasn't a divider, just a body cocooned in a mass of blankets. He looked at the rest of the beds, they were all empty. He went to scratch his head and felt a burlap bandage wrapped around the right side of his head.

Then he remembered why he was here… the Nightfury, the blood, the cool, damp forest floor when he woke up, how he's still alive after encountering a dragon, even though he whole life he'd been told that dragons always go for the kill… Everything reeling through his mind at once sent his brain spinning, he sighed and shook his head, trying to clear it. He headed to the bathroom towards the back of the bay.

He entered the bathroom, lighting the lamp next to the mirror, causing a yellow haze to be cast across the bathroom. He looked in the mirror, examining the damage. His face was still unfortunate, nothing changed there, it was only his ear that was wrapped, there was bandage wrapped around his forehead to support the ear bandage, though. He unbuttoned his patient robes the nurses must have changed him into. He looked down, examining.

A wide array of purple, green, and yellow bruises contrasted against his pasty, white skin and covered the majority of his chest. He noticed they slightly resembled the dragon's paws, probably why it feels like he can't breathe... That dragon must have crushed something in there. Hiccup's hand landed on one of the bruises, rubbing it, he gasped the bruise stung his chest. He breathed heavily, each inhale causing his chest to scream. He buttoned his shirt back up and headed back out to the main area. Walking past his neighboring bed he notices the person had come undone from their blankets.

It was Astrid, sleeping in the med bay next to Hiccup. He flushed slightly when he saw her stomach peeking out from under her shirt, as her body was stretched to every corner of the bed. He just stood at the end of her bed, admiring her. He'd had a crush on her since the first day he'd saw her. She was this little blond fireball, who would go with the hunters to set up traps and such when she was younger, Hiccup, who was always locked up in that shop helping Gobber would admire her as she passed by the shop, sometimes she'd even stop by to pick up piece of equipment or drop something off that needed to be repaired. He loved that she was this little energetic, passionate girl who was free. He hated being constricted to the shop all the time and it was heaven every time he saw her run, walk or stride by.

She stirred a little, Hiccup saw she had a troubled look on her face like she was scared. He walked over, gingerly grabbing her hand and holding it in his. She winced but her face fell smooth as if she'd calmed down. Hiccup felt her gently squeeze his hand back, holding onto it. He blushed, his heart beating inside his chest painfully. He pulled up a chair that was next to the bed, sitting down and started drawing circles on the back of her hand with his thumb gently.

He sighed, looking at her sleepy face. She was beautiful. Even that little bit of drool and how her hair was all tangled was beautiful. He wished that he could stay like this forever. He wished he hadn't messed up so bad that he almost _killed_ her. _He almost killed her_ , the guilt running through his head. He frowned, she had every reason to hate him... She was way out of his league and he almost killed her. Not exactly the best pairing to get someone to like you.

Hiccup's eyelids became heavy as he sat there. Even though he'd slept most of the day, seeing her all calm and asleep made him tired. He didn't want to let go of her hand, not that he could, Astrid gripped his hand a little tighter, so he leaned forward and rested his head next to Astrid, falling asleep soon after.

 **Little bit of fluff for y'all. I love Hiccstrid (I think Asscup too funny) so much it's not healthy… Anywho, we got a new member to the family! Welcome:** **adamwall890** **! Thank you for favoriting and following!**

 **Remember that criticisms, praises, and what your favorite book is right now is always welcomed.**


	7. Chapter 7

**I apologize for my absence… but school is school and what can you do… (I'm dead inside)**

 **But hey, hey, hey from a couple of days I didn't post the story is now up to 600+ views! Y'all are amazeballs.**

Astrid awoke from what had probably been the best sleep she'd gotten in awhile. The warm feeling still pulsing through her since last night, her hand still felt like it was being held. She looked down and saw, in fact, that it was being held and saw who she was gonna kill today. She couldn't see the person's face as it was buried in her blankets.

She yanked her hand out of the imposter's and she pulled it back, punching the person square in the back of the head.

The person was thrown off her bed from the force and ended up on all fours when they hit the ground.

"Ow! What th-" The person turned to look at her, rubbing the back of their head. Hiccup. It was Hiccup, who had a bandage around his head.

"What the hell you creep?!" Astrid shrieked. Hiccup looked guilty, his face becoming extremely red.

"I know this looks wrong, and I want to start off by apologizing," He started, getting up from the floor, still rubbing the stinging part of on the back of his head.

"I'm sorry, I was admitted last night and I got up in the middle of the night and you were stirring and making noises, so I tried to calm you by holding your hand and you wouldn't let go and I was tired and… I'm just really sorry, Astrid…" Hiccup rambled.

Astrid sighed, blushing slightly. _So it wasn't my dad in my dream… it was him…_ She thought, eyeballing Hiccup. She kind of felt bad now for hitting him that hard, but what he did was still creepy and uncalled for. She saw Hiccup head over to the bed next to hers, he put the dividers up in between them and she heard him shuffle into bed. It was still dark outside, _what time is it?_ She looked at the clock on the opposite wall. 0400. _I should probably get more sleep, but after being woken up to that…_

"A-astrid?" She heard.

"What?" She barked, more defensive than she needed to be. She heard Hiccup make a guilty noise and not say another word. She scoffed and got up off her bed. The scratches on her back stung. She flung the dividers to the side to see a very timid Hiccup. He just stared up at her, looking like he was about to die. She breathed in, thinking her words out.

"Quit being such a baby," _no, no, those aren't the right words…_ "I mean," she pretended to cough, "I am mad at you still, but I thank you for helping me," she blushed slightly, "Just that was a creepy thing to do and I'm just not sure if I'm comfortable with you doing that."

"I-I know an-and I'm sorry, I… you… you just looked so scared and I… I'm sorry…" He said sincerely. Astrid sighed and went to sit back on her bed, still looking at Hiccup, who just looked helplessly back at her.

"Like I said, thank you, but don't pull anything like that again, got it?" She laid back down on her bed, her arms crossed behind her head.

"S-so, what're you in for?" Hiccup asked, trying to redeem himself. She looked over at him, he'd rolled over so he was facing her.

This was the first time she'd really studied him. He was a poor looking boy, not exactly not Dragon Hunter material, but his face was nice, not handsome or anything. It was goofy and adorable and speckled with freckles. His chocolate brown hair, which was surprisingly soft as her fist still felt it lingering on her skin, contrasted beautifully with his emerald green eyes compared to her horrible pairing of her pale-gold hair and silver-blue eyes that made her looked washed out.

She wasn't interested in making small talk, but she found herself answering the question, "The raid a couple nights ago. Got into it with a Nadder…" The scratches on her back burning. She surprised herself by asking, "you?"

His eyebrows raised like he hadn't expected her to ask him anything, let alone answer his question.

"Umm… same... Well… it wasn't a Nadder, but a Monstrous Nightmare pinned me down, roared really loud in my ear causing it to burst and I guess I was saved by somebody… cause I passed out and I'm here now…" He said, sounding stupid. She looked surprised.

"You survived a fight against a Monstrous Nightmare, are you sure your eyes worked correctly?" She teased. _No way a kid like him would survive an attack from such a beast._ He chuckled slightly.

"Maybe, I mean I was tossed around like a bag of potatoes for a little bit giving me a concussion and all," he smiled at her, "so anything it possible, but I'm pretty sure you just gave me another one." He teased, rubbing the back of his head. She laughed a little bit, feeling a little guilty.

"So, is it Hiccup or Hugo?" She asked, "I've heard both, but I wasn't sure." He looked embarrassed.

"Uh... It's Hugo, but that hasn't stopped anyone from calling me 'Hiccup'..." He said ashamed.

"Hiccup," she said thinking, "what a _horrendous_ name, how'd you get a nickname like that?" She teased.

"Always making mistakes, always messing things up… it's just a nicer thing to say, it's instead of 'failure' or something… but even though that still sucks, it sounds cooler than 'Hiccup'..." He said, looking away from her.

Something then clicked in her head.

"Wait, Hiccup, like, Hiccup Haddock? The governor's son?" She asked, startling him.

"Hehe, yeah… the one and only…." he stated, doing a little bow to her. Her cheeks blushed red, she had been treating the mayor's son like crap all this time. Though he did almost kill her and he also held her hand while she was sleeping; who knows if he'd done anything else and didn't tell her while she was asleep, her cheeks reddened even more from that thought.

"Hi-hiccup?" She asked, sounding a little more vulnerable than she wanted to, "you didn't do anything else while I was sleeping?" She added a little more edge to her voice.

She thought Hiccup would explode from how he looked, his face burst into a crimson red and his voice was too stuttered and incoherent for her to understand him, but she made out: "N-no! As-Astrid… I-I-I…I… you… I wou-would, n-no, I would never!" He rambled on more about how he was too modest and how he couldn't, wouldn't, shouldn't and kept apologizing.

Astrid started laughing, Hiccup stopped mid-ramble looking at her incredulously. Astrid had to wipe the tears from her eyes and gasp for air during her laughing session.

"I-I'm sorry," she managed to get out, "it was just your response," she managed to calm herself enough to speak properly, "I believe you, Hiccup, you just meant the best for me." She couldn't believe the statement that had just left her mouth. Hiccup's mouth dropped open, a mixture of emotions flicking through his eyes.

"But, I'm still angry at you, don't think I've forgiven you yet." She said quickly. This time Hiccup started to laugh, not quite as hard as she had previously, as it looked like it hurt him to laugh, but enough to return the favor of making Astrid confused this time.

"Ye-yeah, but I couldn't help myself last night," Astrid got worried about what he was about to say, "it was that tempting that I drew a mustache on you," he eyes flicking to the pen on the nightstand, "and I must say, you look fabulous".

Astrid gasped and zoomed to the bathroom, Hiccup laughing as she looked in the mirror, her face untouched. _It was a trick._ She marched out of the bathroom to Hiccup's bed where he was gasping for air from laughing, his arms wrapped around his stomach. He looked pained, but that didn't stop Astrid from socking him in the shoulder.

"Ow!" He exclaimed, lightly rubbing the area she'd punched.

"What can't handle a little punch?" She teased. He looked up at her sadly, she felt a little bad.

"Tackled by a dragon, remember?" He asked, wincing at the pain.

"Oh, yeah, I think it might have been a cat or something, but whatever you say, ace."

They continued talking till the sun peeked above the horizon, but that didn't even stop their conversation. They talked about everything and anything, from what their favorite cookie was to who they thought was the best Dragon Hunter. Astrid felt something she hadn't felt in awhile: acceptance. It was the first time in awhile she was able to sit down and just talk.

She had said something that had made Hiccup smile at her and she began to feel the warmth pulsate through her body once more. It took her by surprise. She placed a hand on her chest and felt her heart rapidly beating under her ribs.

"A-Astrid? You okay, you look a little red…" Hiccup pointed out. Astrid felt her cheek, they radiated with heat.

 _This can't be…_ She thought, she looked over at Hiccup who was just staring at her.

"I'm fine, I think it's just a heat flash, probably just the medicine wearing off." She lied, Hiccup nodded and they continued to talk once more, but something continued to poke at the back of Astrid's head, but she would never admit it.

 **Finally! It feels so good to get another chapter out!  
Shoutouts to: ****Jokermanate** **and** **Notlobe** **for favoriting and following! I love you guys!**

 **Reviews with criticisms, praises and what your favorite song is currently is always welcomed!**


	8. Chapter 8

**The hostess with the mostess and definitely not skipping class to work on my story...**

Hiccup was released later that day, they told Astrid that she would have to wait a couple of days, they didn't want her to do anything too strenuous. Hiccup nodded her a goodbye and headed for the door.

"Hiccup," Astrid called, he turned around to see a pitiful, but stern looking Astrid, "visit me, okay?" Hiccup smiled and did a tiny bow.

"Anything for you, m'lady." He replied, his cheeks heating slightly. She smiled at him and watched him as he left.

Hiccup entered the street, looking around. The town was doing okay. Some areas were still in shambles, but most were being worked on or already finished. Hiccup headed for the shop, as school was already almost over, so he figured he could get a couple more things knocked off his list of stuff to do.

He was turmoiled though, his mind filled with his newfound acquaintance with Astrid, to the dragon who hadn't killed him, to the amount of work he missed during class… He opened the door to the shop and started up the forge for Gobber, who should arrive soon. Hiccup headed over to the tannery and began working on a saddle.

Gobber arrived about half an hour later, surprised to see Hiccup.

"Ah, they got annoyed with you that soon?" He teased and went to the armory. Hiccup just kind of chuckled.

"Yeah, they couldn't contain all this," he said, gesturing to all of himself, "how much have I missed?"

"Nothing you can't come back from, we went over different types up of dragons, but with your nose always in a book, I figured it wouldn't be hard for you to catch up. Also, an exam over dragons is next week. Dragon of your choice, be able to explain its strengths, weaknesses…." Gobber continued on his little speech, but it got Hiccup thinking, "it's worth f-" Hiccup cut Gobber off.

"Can I do a Nightfury?" He blurted. Gobber stopped babbling and a just stared at him, waiting for him to say "just kidding", but it never came and when it didn't Gobber began to laugh.

Hiccup just stood there, not embarrassed but he could feel his cheeks getting red. He watched Gobber laugh at him and realized how absolutely ludicrous that sounded.

"Hiccup," Gobber said through tears, "no one ever met one and lived to tell the tale, I told you it had to be a detailed project on the enemy. Doing a Nightfury would be too easy, not enough information." He wheezed.

"Besides you need to discuss with Astrid about what dragon you're doing," Gobber said, heading to the forge, putting on a work apron.

"A-Astrid? Why-why would I need to discuss anything with her?" Hiccup felt his heart racing at the mention of Astrid's name.

"Boy, did you not hear me? I said it was a partner project." Gobber starting working on a sword, indicating he didn't want to talk anymore.

"Nope, didn't hear that part…" Hiccup said to himself, walking to his workstation fumbling with a couple of gears that went to one of his new inventions.

Hiccup wasn't gentleman material, he was always the boy who'd rather court a machine before talking to a girl. His strong peaks were the inventions he'd made, not his strength or lack thereof. His bolas was his newest, less popular creation, but he was responsible for the base design of the Hordoscope and was the person who'd modify and upgrade gadgets in the background while Gobber was the face. He wasn't Dragon Hunter material by strength and he knew that, but he'd be a Dragon Hunter with a big brain on his shoulder's and ingenuity to guide him. That is if he'd be a Dragon Hunter… with his one-on-one performance in the forest, he wasn't so sure…

Curiosity guiding him and Gobber not paying attention, Hiccup grabbed his journal and a couple of gadgets and retraced his steps to the forest, finding the trench that had been made by the shot down dragon. His tracking wasn't the best, but his kept finding knocked down trees and scattered black scales that led to a bowl in nature. It was a stooped in hole, not so much deep as it was wide, surrounded by rocks that were slightly covered in moss, and had a lake in the center of it.

He couldn't find any more traces of the Nightfury and he was pretty beat so he heade- ZOOM. Hiccup's head shot back to the fortress and saw the creature trying to climb out, its claw not able to grip the rocks to pull itself out of the bowl.

Hiccup was on the ground panting, he crawled over to the edge of the cliff to look down at the beast. It had given up on its escape attempt, but it didn't look like it was its first either. The beast was huffing and puffing and its paws had chafe marks on them from what looks like many unsuccessful escape attempts.

Hiccup hastily pulled out his journal and began to scribble the beast's image down, marking every detail and then some, though the beast was missing one of his posterior wings on its tail. It wasn't a pretty sight… the wing looks as if it had been torn off… and not a clean tear either, the remnants of the wing was pretty gruesome, it made Hiccup sick to his stomach to see the jagged, torn skin still bleeding, and then it hit him. It couldn't escape because of him. He recalled Gobber saying 'go for the wings and tails'.

Hiccup's stomach felt as it was carrying a rock around, he slumped into a pile of sadness and furiousness at both himself and what he'd done. His bag had slipped open, revealing Hiccup's rations for his trip, which included a med kit, food which consisted of a huge chunk of meat and bread, water, and a couple of his gadgets. Something crossed Hiccup's mind and he grabbed his things a slid down the rock mound. Hiccup's ear and chest throbbed, remembering the last time he came in contact with this creature, but he pushed it aside, he needed to make things right, he needed to know why he couldn't kill the beast or why it didn't kill him.

The beast snarled at him, cowering as it saw Hiccup creep closer. It didn't remind Hiccup of a beast that wanted to kill, but more like a caged animal that didn't want to hurt anybody, it was just in its primal instinct mode: survive. Just like everybody else.

Hiccup did the stupidest thing one could do in a situation such as a predicament he was in… He grabbed all of his means of protection and threw it off to the side, the dragon looked dumbfounded, letting its guard down slightly.

Hiccup approached slowly with the chunk of meat extended from him, the dragon slowly backed away, but Hiccup saw that it was salivating, it's stomach growling slightly. Hiccup noticed it began to approach slowly, its whole body shaking and Hiccup realized he was shaking too.

They reached a point where they were about a foot away from each other. The dragon opening its mouth, letting its guard down completely as Hiccup dropped it in its mouth.

"Toothless?" He questioned, looking at the bare gums the dragon bore, "I could've sworn you had-" the dragon's teeth popped out and began to chew the meat, not swallowing it, more like savoring it.

Hiccup took this opportunity to pull out the med kit from his back pocket and slowly crept to the back of the beast, it was still focusing on the food in its mouth.

In one swift motion, he swung his leg over the tail, straddling it and quickly began to wrap the tail the best he could before the dragon screamed and threw him off. Hiccup landed with an 'oof', his bruises pulsing under his skin. He gasped for air, carefully grasping his chest, staring wide-eyed at the dragon.

The dragon was ready to attack felt the pain in its tail dim, looking back at what the boy had done, the unfinished wrapping soothed the dragon. It contemplated the options and ended up nervously placing its tail in Hiccup's lap. Hiccup looked up at the beast, its eyes full of confusion, more than likely mimicking his.

Hiccup pulled out a balm and gingerly rubbed it on the tear. The dragon winced, breathing heavy. Hiccup began to wrap up the rest of the tail, tying the bandage when he finished.

The dragon turned to face him and pressed its head into Hiccup's shoulder, pushing his arm so that it would be placed on top of its head.

Hiccup gulped as he began to pet the dragon, it slightly purring as he rubbed behind its "ear" and then it all made sense to Hiccup. These weren't beasts, these were mistaken creatures, both sides at fault, if they both dropped the fight there wouldn't be any need for one.

 **So, my schedule is kind sort, just a little wacked, but I'm going to do my best to upload. I figured longer, less frequent chapters are better than shorter, less planned chapters. I hope y'all understand…**

 **But enough with the depressing stuff!**

 **We've reached 15 followers and almost 1000 views! I'm crying you guys you don't know how much these numbers, even if they're small to some, they're huge to me, mean to me.**

 **Shoutout to the new members:** **SkySorrow** **,** **toshiro and sakura 4 ever** **,** **Hazel Topaz the Dragonrider** **,** **Rainbow unicorn whale** **, and** **RedHawkdude** **, thanks for following and favoriting!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Bruh, if you guys haven't listened to the Hamilton soundtrack, y'all need to fix your priorities (or don't, I'm not one to judge), Enjoy~ (or don't… I'm not one to judge)**

Hiccup left the cove feeling slightly turmoiled. All his life he'd known these creatures to be fierce and reckless, killing anything in sight, now… now he wasn't so sure. He showed his scared and defenseless side to a killing machine and it had done the same back to him.

Hiccup stumbled back into town, brushing the leaves and forest residue that had gotten onto him off. Remembering his promise to Astrid, he headed to the med bay to drop in and pay a visit. As he entered he saw that more people had been checked into the once empty bay and Val talking to Astrid.

"You think you'll be able to leave soon?" Ruff asked. Astrid kind of shrug her shoulders.

"Dunno, hopefully soon, can't afford to miss any more class…" Astrid frowned. Sitting in the med bay had shown her she wasn't strong enough, that she was a failure. She couldn't let her parents down, she couldn't believe she'd let herself get taken down so easily, she wished she just hurry up and get better and get back out to hunt dragons.

"I wouldn't worry, everybody knows you're the best with anything dragons," Ruff commented, looking out the window.

Astrid began to twiddle her thumbs, it was nice to have someone come to talk to her, but it was awkward. It wasn't like talking to Hiccup where she could just talk comfortably like she'd known him her entire life. Ruff seemed to notice her discomfort a little and began to get up.

"I'm gonna head back," she said looking at the time, it was mid-afternoon, and dinner was about to be served. Astrid nodded and sighed.

"I'm sorry, I just feel a little out of it, y'know?" Astrid said frowning. Ruff nodded.

"I get it completely and I know how it feels to be berated when you don't want to be, Tuff does it all the time," she smiled, "nothing wrong with wanting time to yourself".

Astrid nodded, but she didn't want to be left alone, just, something didn't feel right. Astrid bid Ruff a farewell and noticed Hiccup entering as Ruff was leaving. Astrid saw Ruff say something to Hiccup and he kind of blushed and looked like he was about to leave, but she called out his name and he turned to come back in and headed over to her bed.

"Leaving so soon?" She asked, punching him on the arm as he got close enough. He kind of grunted and rubbed his arm.

"Ow, what was that for?" He asked, "Now I know I want to leave soon." he teased, pulling up a chair and sitting.

"No, but in all honesty, what did Ruff say that made you want to leave?" Astrid asked.

"R-Ruff?" Hiccup asked, "O-oh, you mean Val, um, she said you wanted to be left alone and I shouldn't come to see you since the whole 'almost killing you' accident…" His voice trailed off, his cheeks reddening from remembering his dreadful mistake.

"I don't want to be left alone… I just… It's complicated." She said, horribly explaining herself.

"No, I understand, something like you want to be left alone, but not really, but you don't have the right company or the person you want spending time with you, so you feign wanting to be alone, but that's probably not it… looking at me blabbing like a fool" He commented in his quirky, nerdy way, blushing the entire time. Astrid's eyebrows raised.

"No-no, it's exactly like that actually," she sighed, "I've been alone most of my life and I know I shouldn't be picky about the people who want to hang out with me, but I can't help it… I guess I'm just a spoiled lady with refined, peculiar tastes." She chuckled.

The time seemed to fly by with Hiccup by her side, talking about their lives and stuff, even when they had nothing to talk about, the silence spoke a million words between them.

"So, I don't know if Val told you this, but we have a group assessment coming up in class over a dragon of our choice and since Gobber assigned us partners for the year, I figured we could possibly discuss our options?" Hiccup asked. Astrid thought for a moment.

"What about a Nadder? They're simple, yet complex creatures and those happened to be the most killed dragon by yours truly." She smirked, gesturing to herself. Hiccup looked guilty when she said "most killed dragon", not saying much to add on.

"No? Don't want to do a Nadder?" She asked, jabbing him with her elbow, knocking him out of his trance.

"W-what? Nadder? Sure." He spoke in fragments, "S-sorry, I'm just thinking… Um… Yeah… Sure, we can do Nadder's." He said staring out of the window into the forest.

"Okay, great," she said, the space between them becoming awkward. She scratched the back of her head, "how's the ear?"

"Oh, um, it's fine, still all wrapped up obviously," he chuckled pointing at the bandages, "I just hope no major damage has been done… Um, how's your back doing?"

She kind of shuffled herself to see if her back hurt any, it protested against her movements but she ignored the pain and shrugged.

"Not too bad, I just wish it would heal already… I'm getting sick of just sitting here and not being able to do anything and it doesn't help that I'm missing class…" She frowned, angry hiding behind her eyes.

Hiccup shuffled uncomfortably in his seat.

"It's really not all that bad, I mean, you've got me here and I'm not saying it to be narcissistic… Wh-what I mean is I could help you out while you're here. I'll be starting back up tomorrow and I could catch up on the work and bring it here for you and help you out with it." He explained hurriedly, not wanting to sound like an ass or something.

"I'd like that," she smiled. He smiled back at her.

"Glad to hear," he paused, "besides, everyone here knows that you're the best, it'll probably be a piece of cake for you to catch up." He flushed, turning away from her.

Astrid was about to say something when one of the nurses came over.

"Okay, times up lovebirds," she stated, "lovebirds" made both Astrid and Hiccup jump uncomfortably and blush, but before they could protest the nurse continued, "it's Ms. Hofferson's time to eat and visiting time is almost over, so I suggest that you wrap up your conversation and say your goodbyes." The nurse strolled away, leaving Astrid and Hiccup in another uncomfortable predicament.

"I-I, um, I-I, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, I-I, um, yep, Bye, Astrid." Hiccup stood up quickly was about to head for the exit.

"Goodbye, Hugo." She stated and watched him leave.

Hiccup stumbled out of the med bay, his face bright red and his heart pounding. _God, I'm such a fool_. He walked over to the shop and saw that Gobber wasn't there anymore. Hiccup sat down at his station, pondering over a couple things as he pulled out his journal. He flipped through it and landed on the page with his sketch of 'Toothless'... _Toothless… that's a dumb name… but I guess it works, I'll keep it for now and change it later_ …

Hiccup saw the missing dorsal wing the dragon lacked and it got him thinking as his eyes landed on a piece of leather and other miscellaneous pieces around the shop.

Hiccup geared up in his goggles and apron and began to work on a dorsal wing, looking at his not-quite-as-detailed-as-he'd-like-sketch-of-the-Nightfury-but-it'll-do sketching Toothless and began to work out the measurements and pieces he'd need to build this contraption.

He worked endlessly till the sun dropped behind the horizon and seemed to have risen again without Hiccup noticing. He placed the final touches on the wing, marveling at his craftsmanship and then passing out in the very spot he worked.

 **That's it until next time! I can only hope the next chapter will be more action-packed… I'm having some problems connecting the story in the path I want it to be, so, yeah…**

 **Shout-outs to:** **Flamegod99** **,** **TheWatchingEye** **,** **Fox of the Emerald Isle** **, and** **ichwarsnet** **for following!**


	10. Chapter 10

Hiccup was awoken to the shop's door being slammed open and Gobber hobbling in.

"My goodness, boy! What on earth are you still doing here?" Gobber said, shoving Hiccup as he passed by.

Hiccup sat up looking at Gobber as he hobbled into the smithery. He jumped when he remembered the very blatant faux dragon wing in the center of his work table. He quickly grabbed the wing, folded it up and shoved it into a nearby corner, covering it with a piece of fabric that was draped nearby. Gobber leaned around the corner.

"What's that, boy?" He asked, not really caring. Hiccup's face drained of color and sweat began to drop down, his mind whirring for a plausible answer.

"Th-this? Oh, nothing. Just a new invention I'm working on… nothing important." He said squeamishly. Gobber nodded, collecting a few things and shoving them into his satchel.

"Nothing important? Hah, almost everything you make is important, we probably wouldn't be standing here without your genius, so what is it?" Gobber said, passing over his compliment to Hiccup. Hiccup's cheeks reddened. He'd never really gotten complimented for much, it was usually complaints.

"Just a 'something' right now. Nothing special, yet. Just… no peeking… okay? I don't want anything to be seen yet." Hiccup tried to explain, but he saw Gobber couldn't give a rats ass about what he was saying. "So, what's all that you're taking?"

"Oh, this? Just stuff for class today. Speaking of which, starts in a couple of hours and you look like hell, so you might want to think about heading to your room to get ready." Gobber stated heading back to the shop's entrance, "besides, big day in class today, you'll want to be there to hear it."

Gobber left the shop, leaving Hiccup to himself once again. Hiccup gasped for air, _that was close_ , he looked over at the covered dragon's wing. He grabbed it from under the blanket and hid it in the loft area above the shop, an area Gobber hardly went to.

Hiccup closed up the shop and headed to the academy. He got lost a couple of times on the way to his dorm, but he finally made it back. As he entered he noticed that Fishlegs had already cleared out for the morning, he was more than likely at breakfast. _Breakfast…_ His stomach growled at the thought of food. He hadn't had a proper meal in a while. He stripped down in the bathroom and pumped water from the pipes into a bin next to the tub, he pumped enough so that he could have a proper shower. He connected a hose to the bin and turned the nozzle on the shower, water coming out the shower head.

Hiccup watched the grim roll off his body and down the drain, the water warm and comforting and seeming to clear his thoughts from everything that has happened. After what seemed like an eternity, he found himself in a clean school uniform and looking at a school map, trying to head to the mess hall.

The mess hall wasn't as full as he thought it would be, but then he realized that the school's population was rather small and there were less than one hundred students in total at the academy. With fewer students than he imagined and after getting his food, it wasn't hard to find Fishlegs among the crowd. As Hiccup approached Fishlegs, he noticed that the other Hunter trainees were at the same table, Hiccup sat down next to Fishlegs.

"Hic-er-Hugo! Where have you been? What happened?" Fishlegs asked he was the only person to notice that Hiccup had sat down. Val and her brother, which Hiccup heard his name was Cal, were talking to Seth.

"Ah, you know, the usual, dragon tackling and all." Hiccup joked.

"Which one got tackled, you or the dragon?" Fishlegs teased, "from the looks of it you did". Fishlegs commented, stifling a laugh.

"Hardy har har," Hiccup faked and began to eat his toast and eggs.

Fishlegs filled Hiccup in on what he missed the last couple of days, they went over the basics for the more common types of dragons the first day he was absent, and the next day they went over common weapons for dragon hunting and that, possibly, today they were going to go over some strategies and defensive techniques. Also the professor, Hiccup was very weirded out to hear Gobber be called "professor", had a big announcement to make today.

"I heard him talking about something worth being in class for today," Hiccup commented, "any ideas on what it could be?"

"Probably on some pop quiz today," Fishlegs said nonchalantly. Hiccup hoped he was wrong, he didn't want to start off the year with a failing grade.

"I heard it might be something about a competition," Val piped in, looking over at Hiccup.

"Yeah, possibly who ends with the worst performance in the class gets eaten by a dragon," Cal chipped in nudging Val.

"What? Me? Worst performance? Last time I checked didn't almost kill my classmate…" Val bored a hole into Hiccup's face.

"Hey now," Fishlegs started, "it was the first day of class, and I know accidental murder is no excuse, but this is Astrid we're talking about. We all know she's more than capable of handling herself. Besides, Hiccup's Horndoscope hit the dragon unlike the rest of ours". Val flushed at Fishlegs reprimand, even Hiccup blushed from the compliment.

"Alright," Hiccup heard Seth speak for the first time, "enough chit-chat, class is about to start."

"And since when do you care about getting to class early," Cal teased. Seth rolled his eyes and began for the exit, the rest of the group following.

Hiccup sat in his spot in the back, next to Fishlegs who plopped into his seat. Gobber hobbled in a couple moments after the bell rung.

"Mornin' class. Today I hope you very excited, because," Gobber grabbed a piece of chalk and scribbled out _Champion of the Year_ , the class made a collective gasp, "Champion of the Year is coming back."

Hiccup remembered hearing something about this a while ago. It was a competition between the Hunter trainees and was banned for awhile cause too many of them got severely hurt.

"As a recap, the Champion or Coty is a competition amongst you and your fellow classmates. It is the greatest honor one can achieve at the school. The competition is fairly simple. The partners with the best performance by the end of this semester will have the chance to show their skills in front of the entire town. The highest ranking student," he paused grinning, "gets to kill a dragon in front of the entire town and taken in as governor Haddock's apprentice".

The class began to chatter, Fishlegs went on about how awesome it would be to be the governor's, who happened to be the best dragon hunter around and also Hiccup's father (but the class, except for Astrid, didn't know this) apprentice.

"That's awesome!" Astrid exclaimed, a nurse nearby telling her to be quiet.

"Yeah…" Hiccup couldn't help but sound less than pleased.

"I mean, it probably doesn't sound all that great to you, but to be Stoick's apprentice," she grinned.

"Yeah, then he can be more of a father to someone else than me because they met his expectations…" Hiccup faked enthusiasm. He could feel tears build up behind his eyes. He felt Astrid lay a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey," she frowned, "I get it. Even though you still have your father… I understand what it's like to not really have a family…" Hiccup looked up at her, they each exchanged sad smiles.

"Well, let's haul ass this semester for the top partners, but don't think I'll hand you, top student." She playfully nudged him with her elbow.

"Hah, I couldn't dream of getting top student, I know that automatically goes to you," he smiled, "but, top partners sounds doable".

"That's the spirit!" She cheered, getting shushed by a nurse again. Astrid stuck her tongue out at the nurse when she turned away. Hiccup chuckled a little bit, making a comment about her maturity.

"Ugh, I want to get out of here…" Astrid groaned.

"Any word on how long you have left here?" Hiccup asked.

"Yeah, a couple more days, I'll be out by Friday at least and have the weekend to finish "healing" and catch up on school work," she huffed.

Hiccup did something he regretted the first time after he did it, but he decided to do it again, regardless of the consequences, he rested his head on Astrid's bed.

He felt her punch the back of his head in the same spot lightly. He smiled when she did it.

"And what do you think you're doing, creep?" She teased.

"Me?" Hiccup asked turning his head to face her, "oh, nothing. Just resting my eyes".

Astrid chuckled and pretended to roll up her sleeves as if she were about to beat the crap out of him. Hiccup jumped up laughing. The nurse that continued to shush them walked up with a stern look on her face.

"Either you can be quiet, or I'm going to have to ask you to leave, sir." She stated curtly. Hiccup held his hands up defensively.

"I'm sorry, Madame Pomfrey. I didn't know you weren't supposed to have fun with your friends." He said sarcastically, Astrid covered her mouth to stifle her laugh. Madame Pomfrey pulled her old lips into a tight line.

" _Hugo_." She warned. Hiccup laughed and apologized profusely, slightly meaning it, slightly sarcastic. Since he was a regular visitor, he had many times to mess with Pomfrey, she was like a grandmother to him.

"I'm sorry," Hiccup said, turning to Astrid, "so... Nadder's?"

 **That's a wrap for CHAPTER TEN?! Hallelujah, I can't believe I've made it this far! With over 1000 views and almost 20 followers and 10 favorites… I really am spoiled~**

 **Shout-outs to:** **Fox of the Emerald Isle for following!**

 **Reviews are always appreciated.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Just so you guys have a feel for what day it is in the story for this chapter (last chapter it was Wednesday), it is now Friday (little time jump).**

Hiccup exited the school after the last bell of the day had rung. _Astrid won't be released for another couple hours…_ He looked back the clock on the school. _3:00_. He had some time to kill. He headed to the shop and crossed his fingers that Gobber wouldn't be there, he was lucky and saw the shop was empty. He loaded up the faux wing in a holster and grabbed a couple other things and left the shop, heading to the local fish market down the street.

"Welcome!" A man who looked a lot like Fishlegs called from behind the counter at the market.

"H-hello," Hiccup replied sheepishly.

"That uniform… You're from Berk aren't you?" The man asked cheerfully. Hiccup slightly smiled and nodded.

"Have you met my boy? His name is Boris. Boris Ingerman." The man, Hiccup now decided to call him 'Mr. Ingerman', asked.

 _Boris?_

"Fish-Boris!" Hiccup finally figured it out, "yeah, I know Boris. He's in the Dragon Hunter class with me."

Mr. Ingerman looked Hiccup up and down with a look of confusion and disappointment, like he was thinking _you're in Dragon Hunting_? But he shook his head, clearing his face of the look.

"Right… So, how can I help ya?" He asked, his voice trying to retain the cheerfulness.

"I would like (insert fish here that you need to add lasted when you research fish) and a smoked eel," Hiccup stated simply. The fishmonger just stared at him.

"An-anything else?" He asked, writing up the order. Hiccup shook his head and waited for the order to be finished.

"That'll be-" Hiccup cut him off by laying a sack of gold coins on the table.

"That should be enough, right?" Hiccup asked, repeating the disappointed look right back at the man, not knowing where this surge of confidence came from.

Mr. Ingerman opened the sack and rummaged through the coins, shaking his head.

"It's _too_ much." He stated incredulously, handing some back, Hiccup held up his hands.

"Keep the change and have a good day," he collected his merchandise and left the market with the owner still baffled on what just happened.

Hiccup entered the cove about a half an hour later. The burlap sack of fish testing his strength more than he'd like it to.

Toothless was hanging upside down on a tree branch. How, Hiccup couldn't explain, there was no way the branch could hold up a dragon that size, let alone just its tail doing most of the work. Hiccup decided not to question it too much as he felt sweat form on his face, a queasy feeling overcoming him. Just because he'd gotten away from the dragon mostly unharmed the first couple times, didn't mean things couldn't change. He felt his busted ear drum under the bandage throb as he approached the beast.

Toothless's eyes shot open, his pupils like slits when Hiccup threw the bag of fish down in front of the tree. Toothless went from defensive mode to _oh, it's just you_. Hiccup smiled slightly at the dragon as it dropped from its perch and eagerly sniffed the scent of fish to the burlap sack. It looked up at Hiccup with a questioning look.

"You can eat it, just for you bud," Hiccup encouraged. Toothless didn't need to be told twice to eat, its teeth shot out of its gums and it began to dive into the bag when it screeched. Hiccup jumped at the noise and looked cautiously at Toothless who backed away from the bag, Hiccup inched to the bag and examined it. The eel staring lifelessly at him.

"What _this_?" Hiccup asked, delicately picked up the eel, a grossed out look etched on his face. Toothless growled and nodded.

"Okay, okay!" Hiccup said disposing of the eel as Toothless became aggressive. Toothless melted back into the sack of fish once the eel was gone. "Yeah, not a fan of eel myself…"

Hiccup looked the dragon over, his eyes landing on the mangled bandage that was barely hanging onto the dragon's tail. Hiccup went to examine it, leaning down to touch it, but the dragon flinched away. Hiccup looked at Toothless who was staring sadly at him.

"Hey, bud, I'm here to help," Hiccup stated pulling out another wrap of bandages and sitting down. Toothless reluctantly placed his tail on Hiccup's lap. Hiccup unraveled what was left of the original bandage. The stump of the wing looked a lot better than it did, it started to scab up, didn't look infected, but there were slight scratch marks on the scab.

"Itchy, huh?" Hiccup smirked at Toothless who was finishing off the fish. Hiccup pulled out salve and rubbed it all over the remnants of the wing and proceeded to wrap the wing again.

"So, it looks good, maybe another couple of days and it'll be almost completely healed." Hiccup sat up and brushed himself off. Toothless examined his tail and began to run in a circle, like a cat chasing its tail. Hiccup just stared at him. He still couldn't comprehend how all of his life he'd lived in fear of these creatures and here he was standing next to one of these "deadly" beasts watching it chase its tail. Hiccup leaned up against a nearby boulder and slid to the moist forest floor.

Hiccup sat there for awhile when he felt the dragon do something next to him. Hiccup looked over to see the dragon awkwardly sitting upright like a human would and then again, they sat there for awhile. Hiccup's mind reeling, but he was pretty sure Toothless's was too. He looked at the dragon sitting there awkwardly, Hiccup couldn't help but chuckle. Toothless looked over at him and attempted to mimic the smile on Hiccup's face, its face stretching at an awkward angle that made Toothless look like he was grimacing more than he was smiling.

They goofed off for a while when it hit Hiccup he didn't have much longer, he pulled out his pocket watch, _5:00_ , Astrid would be out in about an hour. Hiccup got up and walked over to the pile of supplies he brought, pulling out the canister that contained the faux dragon wing, pouring the wing into his arms. He unfolded the wing and held it out for Toothless to observe it. Toothless just stared at it, not registering for him for awhile, until he pulled his tail in front of himself and lifted it to the wing.

Hiccup almost started to cry again when he saw the dragon's eyes gleam and an attempted smile appeared on Toothless's face as he bounced up and down, jabbing his tail at Hiccup, pushing him to the ground.

"Okay, okay, bud!" Hiccup laughed, "sit still, I can't strap it down with you wiggling so much." He managed to get the wing strapped on, but it required him to get on all fours, straddling the dragon's tail to get it to stop squirming. Hiccup put his hand to his chin, looking at the wing strapped onto the tail.

"It's not, but could be- AHHHHH!" Hiccup latched onto the tail as Toothless shot off the ground. Hiccup almost fell off as he felt the dragon fall, he looked down at the crumpled wing, the wind crushing it, before they hit, Hiccup pulled the wing out, extending it to its maximum capacity and he felt Toothless maneuver as they shot up thirty feet into the air, Hiccup slowly slipping from Toothless's tail, the sleek dragon scales didn't mix well with his sweaty hands.

"Toothless, Toothless! I-I'm slipping-" Hiccup lost his grip and began to fall to the earth at groundbreaking speed. The sensation was freeing, but Hiccup didn't seem to notice it too much as he was about to meet his demise.

Hiccup grabbed for something, anything, his hands coming into contact with something warm, yet cool at the same time and hearing a big thud.

Hiccup found himself encased in darkness, he gasped for air as he reached out from what surrounded him. He crawled out of the darkness and turned to see it was Toothless that had saved from falling, a small crater formed from the collision under the dragon. Hiccup crawled over to Toothless, seeing his eyes were closed sent him into a frenzy.

"To-Toothless!" Hiccup exclaimed, rolling the dragon onto its back as he placed his head onto Toothless's chest. He wasn't completely caught up on Nightfury anatomy, but then again, no one was, so what he was listening for was unknown. He heard a slight thumping from inside the dragon which Hiccup assumed to be a heartbeat.

"Toothless?" Hiccup felt his lower lip quiver. Toothless shuffled and turned to look at Hiccup with a smile on its face as it wiggled its tail. Almost telling Hiccup, _that was fun! Can we do it again?_ Hiccup laughed, tears welling in his eyes as he hugged Toothless.

 **Astrid's probably at the hospital like, "where tf is Hiccup?" and really wanting to punch him, but only if she knew… hehe…**

 **Sorry for the late update, but here it is!**

 **Shout-outs to:** **tenten984** , **Alzbob** **,** **deathsonglove** **, and** **ichwarsnet** **for favoriting and following!**

 **Reviews are always appreciated, ciao~**


	12. Chapter 12

Astrid waited outside the hospital, her eyes flicking to the clock every thirty seconds, _6:53_ , she sighed. She'd been released over an hour ago and Hiccup promised he'd be here to see her out. A put was plastered on her face.

"Stupid Hiccup," She kicked a nearby pebble, muttering under her breath, "stupid "promise", stupid-AGH" She swung herself in a circle, her fist clenched in front of her as if she was swinging a punch at Hiccup.

"Ow!" Astrid's eyes shot open to see that her fist had in fact come into contact with Hiccup who was standing behind her, rubbing his shoulder where her punch landed. Her heart did a backflip.

"Well. Serves you right!" She sounded grumpy, "making me wait an _hour!_ Where h-" She stop herself as she finally got a good look at him.

"What happened to you?" Concern flooding her once irate tone. He was covered in tiny scratches and scrapes, his hair was tangled with tiny branches and leaves, and she could see his bandage stained red from where it looked like his ear had burst again.

"M-me?" He asked, scratching the back of his head, "n-nothing, just a… testing out a new invention?" He stated, like he was trying to convince himself more than her. She rolled her eyes and latched her hand around his wrist, tugging him inside the hospital. _Great, first time in a week out and I'm back again…_

"Ah, Astrid, back so soon-" Dr. Tennant eyes landed on Hiccup and needed no further explanation. He gestured to a close by bed and pulled out a couple external examination instruments. Hiccup was resistant, saying that he didn't need to be here and that it was unnecessary, but both Astrid and Dr. Tennant told him to shut up and get on the bed.

Dr. Tennant first unwrapped Hiccup's bandage and examined his ear.

"Boy, in what universe does 'be careful with that ear' mean to go and bust it up again?" Dr. Tennant clicked. Astrid crossed her arms and hoped to hear the right answer this time, giving Hiccup a stern look. He saw this and quickly looked away and was saved from having to answer as Madame Pomfrey came over and shoved a thermometer in his mouth.

Astrid stood by and watched Dr. Tennant clean up Hiccup's ear, adding ointments and such and wrapping it back up again after Madame Pomfrey insisted the boy take a shower.

"Alright," Dr. Tennant stated. Hiccup must of taken this as a "alright, I'm done" as he started to get up, but Dr. Tennant asked what the hell he was doing and shoved Hiccup back onto the bed.

" _Alright_ ," he began again, "take off you shirt."

Astrid felt the blood rush straight to her head, she felt herself getting dizzy and excused herself to a nearby chair, her heart thumping in her chest. She did her best to refrain from looking at Hiccup, but her eyes flicked up at him and her mouth dropped. His torso showcased a brilliant range of bruises, covering most of him in splotches of yellow to dark purple. She was about to say something, but Dr. Tennant beat her to the punch.

"Holy hell," He marvelled, "what did you do? Jump off and thirty foot drop and purposefully crash into the ground?!"

Hiccup wheezed and looked up at Astrid who look more angry than concerned.

"I-I was testing a piece of new flight equipment," he started, "and it kind of malfunctioned…."

"Kind of?!" Astrid gaped, cutting off Dr. Tennant. "Alright, enough beating around the bush! What. Did. You. Do?" She asked charing over to him.

"Astrid!" Dr. Tennant exclaimed. "That's enough, you can beat him up later, right now I need to examine the damage…" Dr. Tennant sighed, though his eyes shown with the same question she'd just asked.

Astrid trudged over to a chair and plopped down, crossing her arms as she huffed.

She slightly dozed off but woke up when Dr. Tennant appeared in front of her. He was looking at his clipboard and began to rattle things off.

"Mostly external, besides his ear, major bruising on torso, but nothing on the inside appears to be damaged," he stated, he just sighed and looked helplessly at Astrid. "J-just watch over him, okay? Make sure he swabs his ear twice a day after a week of having his bandage on and make sure he does nothing too trying for me…" This was the first time she'd seen him sound like he actually cared for the boy.

"Will do, doc," She smiled as she got up and walked over to Hiccup who looked dead tired.

"Alright, bud, let's get you home," she heaved Hiccup off the bed, wrapping one of his arms around her neck and shuffling him out of the medbay.

"I-I'm sorry, Astrid." Hiccup sighed. She looked over at him, but he didn't do the same, his eyes remained plastered to the floor.

"I'll forgive you if you tell me what happened…" She said, concern filling her voice again. He looked conflicted.

"I was really testing out an invention and it just didn't go according to plan! Why won't you believe me?" He exclaimed, getting irritated. Astrid felt herself getting irritated as well, she shoved Hiccup off from around her shoulder, he stumbled and stood awkwardly, trying to hold himself up. He looked pissed and was about to shout something, but Astrid cut him off.

"Because "testing out an invention" doesn't match up with what I saw!" She screamed, she felt tears peaking her eyes, "You look like you got crushed or something, no one just walks away from what appears to amount to jumping off a cliff! I want to know what happened, don't you trust me? Aren't we friends? Don't friends confine and tell each other things?!"

Astrid saw Hiccup recoil and his face twisted into a guilty grimace. She saw his mouth open many times, but close automatically.

"Astrid," his voice really calm, "I told you what I did. Why don't you trust me?" He rebutted. Astrid's eyes widened slightly and she to tried to say something, but no words came out.

"I-I, you, you're right…" She found herself at a loss for words. "I'm sorry, it's just… seeing you like that and… I'm sorry…"

"Don't apologize," Hiccup walked over placing a hand on her shoulder, "I am your friend and I do trust you, don't think for a second I don't"

Astrid looked him straight in the eyes for the first time. He was brilliant, everything about him was, his brilliant green eyes, his brilliant chocolate brown hair, his brilliant brain… She sighed and smiled at him, grabbing his arm and wrapping it around her shoulders.

"Alright," she started to lead them away from the hospital, "I wanna get as far away from this place and never come back." They laughed and started for the academy.

 **So, hey guys… Sorry for my absence… I've had serious writer's block and other story ideas pop into my head, pushing this one away. It's been lingering but I'm just don't have the same passion for HTTYD when I started this. Don't get me wrong, I still love the series, it's just I've found other stuff that I enjoy and want to write about… I won't quit writing this story, but updates may, MAY, be less (whom I kidding… It took me two weeks to get this "long" chapter up…). I really am happy that I'm obtained a following from this story (small or big doesn't matter to me, the fact that you guys follow me is more than enough to make me want to continue writing) and don't worry, it will still continue so please don't unfollow me just yet!**

 **Possible spoiler for next story, maybe not: y'all like Jelsa?**

 **Thank you for for favoriting and following:** **welshcanadian14** , **Zoltaris** , **Blasta17** **,** **Carayen** **,** **Danika11pikachu** **,,** **Rexathor** **,** **Norse Kode** , **joshualankamp09** **,** **lanceodulio** **,** **mrtznlssn** **, and** **vdbroeckt** **(so many people :0)**


	13. Chapter 13

Hiccup stretched his arms out as if he were flying, Toothless soaring underneath him, who was purposely attached to a rope that was tied to a tree trunk. Flying. Flying was something. After his mishap with Toothless a couple months ago, he decided baby steps was the way to go when flying with a dragon.

Toothless landed, shaking his head and catching his breath after practicing for about half an hour, Hiccup set out their lunches and Toothless began to eat, but Hiccup took out his journal and scribbled a couple things down. Toothless was the only reason he was able to do well in Gobber's class. Astrid was a big help of course, she was the muscle and Hiccup was the brain; he told her what to do and they succeeded. With the end of the semester turning up quicker than expected, there was no reason as to why Hiccup and Astrid wouldn't be the team picked for the first round… Hiccup swallowed hard, looking over at Toothless. _Killing a dragon_. To make things worse, Toothless looked up and smiled at him with parts of chewed fish falling out of his toothless gums. Hiccup gave a sad smile back and closed his journal.

"Alright, bud," Hiccup said, pulling out his pocket watch, "time to head back" he stated with the snap of the watch closing. Toothless finished the last of his meal and clammered to follow Hiccup after being untied from the trunk. Toothless nudged under Hiccup's arm and beckoned his hand to the side of his neck, Hiccup scratched his neck and Toothless nearly collapsed. Guilt continued to fill Hiccup's empty stomach, he shook his head and continued walking back to Toothless's hideout.

Hiccup dropped Toothless back to his bowl and headed to the exit of the forest, almost out when he was slammed into the cold ground, something warm falling on top of him.

"Y'know, one of these days I'm gonna find out what you do in there," Hiccup heard the familiar voice of Astrid coming from atop his back. He let out a wheeze as he felt her stand up off of him and blushed.

"Astrid?" He got up with a help of her hand, "the greatest hunter there ever was can't find a measly nobody". He brushed himself off and sheepishly looked up at her, she was beaming at him.

"Maybe, I don't have to." She looked at him suspiciously, "what do you do in there?" The hairs on Hiccup's neck lifted.

"I-uh-um… I'm just… I really...uh-" Astrid started giggling. Hiccup looked up at her.

"It's okay, you can tell me about him." She smiled. Hiccup froze, his mind reeling, she knows about Toothless, how? Did she follow me? Why hasn't she said anything till now? Do that mean she's fine with dragons? _Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself, let's just play it cool and act like I don't know what she's talking about_

"Who-who is "he"?" He stuttered. Astrid laughed and socked him in the arm.

"Ow, what was th-" She cut him off.

"Your boyfriend silly," She teased and began walking away. Hiccup was left even more shocked.

"Boyfri-boyfriend? I don't have a boyfriend!" He exclaimed chasing after her, he grabbed her shoulder and tugged her in his direction. She had a smile plastered on, but he saw she was upset about something.

"Astrid, what's wrong?" He asked, his voice lowering. She gazed into his eyes for a second before looking away, blinking some tears out of her eyes.

"No-nothing, it's nothing. Ju-just, Hiccu-Hugo, I want you to know that you can tell me anything," she said silently. Hiccup chuckled slightly.

"You can call me Hiccup, everyone already does. I don't take as an insult anymore, and-" he pulled her face to look at him, looking into her eyes, "I'm not gay".

She burst into laughter, clutching her stomach and gasping for air. Hiccup couldn't help but join in. They laughed it out for a couple minutes before they returned to their original position, face-to-face, gazing into in each other's eyes.

"Astri-" she put a finger to his lips, her eyes traveling down to them. He saw her swipe her tongue across hers.

She was a sight to see. She grabbed his hands and placed them on her hips, slowly bringing herself closer to him. Instinctively his hands met at the small of her back, slightly pulling her closer to him. Their eyes met again, this time Hiccup noticed that he was almost the same height as her, he must've grown over the last few months. He scanned her face, taking in those blue eyes and the golden freckles that spackled her face.

They leaned into each other, their parted lips only centimeters away from each other, the warm air between their mouths smelled vaguely of mint. They began to slowly close their eyes and-

"Well, I thought I felt heat comin' from over here!" They heard the gruff laughter of Gobber come from the forest. Astrid squealed and took off, Hiccup watching her dash away. He turned to the old man, his face bright red.

"A little out of your league doncha think?" Gobber knocked his arm. Hiccup gave him a combined look of anger and embarrassment, only causing Gobber to laugh more.

"You should be saving that for after the tournament, with yer progress in class, there's no way you guys are gonna be the contestants," Gobber watched Astrid figure disappear around some rocks, he turned to Hiccup.

"I figured I'd find ya out here, came to deliver some news," Gobber breathed in, "your father's back in town…"

Hiccup felt his stomach sink.

 **What a short, awful chapter… Well, I hope you guys still like it...**


	14. Chapter 14

The broad man sat in front of his fire, poking it with a stick, and feeding it some logs. He sighed and shuffled from the floor to his chair, closing his eyes and getting sleep that he hadn't had in the last couple weeks. This man was always on his feet, always on the move, always making plans, and always running a town. He was always sore, as well. Fighting dragons, signing contracts, searching for the enemy... With a man as busy as him, how could he find the time to raise a son alone? The boy wouldn't help the man; the boy was always causing trouble, be it at home or out in the forest. Every minute the boy was gone the man worried when he would receive a message or hear the town's alarm go off.

Who knows? Maybe it was his fault, maybe it was the boy's, maybe the odds weren't in the family's favor. The man opened his bloodshot eyes, admiring the golden dragon, forever in an attacking position, over his fireplace. He forced his body in the direction of a photo. A photo that sat on a dusty table across the room. The man grunted as he lifted his hefty body from the comfort of his chair, hobbling over to the photo. He lifted the framed photo from the table, using his massive thumb to wipe off the dust that covered a family. A family he once knew but couldn't find.

A small woman stood next to the man, her beautiful face forever scrunched in a fit of laughter. A small boy bared a toothless, with the exception of a couple teeth, grin, his eyes covered by the much-too-big tophat that sat atop his head… and… and a man, a man whose face shown with pride.

The man wiped the tears that fell from his eyes. A door creaked in and the patter of footsteps followed. The man turned to see the pathetic boy in his presence.

"Hi, dad…" Hiccup didn't sound enthused to see his father… in fact, he prefered when he was out of town.

"Son," Stoick gruffly replied. Hiccup shuffled towards the fire, staring at the framed photo in his father's hands. Stoick took notice of this and quickly placed it back in its original spot. Hiccup noticed a water droplet rolling down the picture and his father's bloodshot eyes.

"Gobber said you wanted to speak with me?" He asked awkwardly. Stoick nodded and returned back to his chair.

"How's your training going?" his voice hoarse, his eyes resenting every blink he took. He needed sleep. He wanted sleep.

"Dad, you're not looking well, maybe we should discuss this later?" Hiccup offered, "I have the weekend off and-"

"That won't be necessary, I'm fine. Don't change the subject." Stoick cut his son off. Hiccup shuffled uncomfortably in front of the fire.

"My training is going fine. I've been partnered with Astrid Hofferson, so that's something…" Hiccup racked his brain for answers.

 _Astrid_ … _Well, if he's got her then maybe he has a chance_ … Hiccup rattled on, training, his inventions, and…

"Major hospital visit? Why am I not surprised?" Stoick mused. Hiccup's face reddened. "What was it this time?"

"I… uuhhh… invention mistake. Basically, I fell off a cliff and…" Hiccup heard snoring from across the room, he looked at his father. He looked peaceful. Hiccup felt bad of his father… What man deserved such a weak excuse for a son… Hiccup grabbed a nearby blanket and covered his sleeping father. Hiccup looked at the photo his father was handling. He saw the dust wiped off his mother's face, the dried remnants of a tear on his young face, and a crack over his father's face…

Short chapter…what a broken family...

Thank you to Firenerd2000, JayLogic1, Yogman, DarkLinkBlade, FinnTheHumanMC, Fumiu, RISJungaeRedRum17, ThisRandomDude, bl2008, and owendiodato326 for liking the story!

Oh my jeez guys… 5,700+ reads?!


	15. Chapter 15

Hiccup left early the next morning. He avoided his father like the plague. He loved his father, but he knew his father didn't love him. His father wanted a true fighter, not a mechanic, a man who was taller than 5'10'' and weighed more than 180 pounds, not a scrawny boy who barely passed 5'6'' and weighed around 110 pounds. He didn't remember his mom all that well, but he remembers when she was around, you couldn't keep a smile off his father's face. Hiccup turned back to his house, a grim look crossed his face, he should hate dragons. They tore his family apart but should was a powerful word to Hiccup and he couldn't hate dragons, not with what he'd seen with Toothless.

Hiccup went into town and collected some things for his excursion to the forest. Food, water, his journal, his sack filled with his dragon riding gear and a couple other goods. He locked the door behind him and breathed in the early Sunday morning air and waving at some passing bystanders. He adjusted his sack and headed for the forest. He followed his usual trail, he had a couple of landmarks to Toothless' lair: a boulder shaped like a heart, a broken tree, Toothless' crash site, and a hill that led to the bowl. Toothless was hanging upside down from his perch, more than likely still asleep, so Hiccup hunkered down, making a small fire and began cooking up his breakfast. He felt something shove him forward and a cool sensation under his arm. He looked down to see his buddy, grinning like an idiot and drooling at the bag of fish that lied at Hiccup's feet.

"Hey, bud, how's it going?" Hiccup chuckled to himself. The dragon eagerly shook its tail at the bag of fish and prodding Hiccup's hand for scratches.

After breakfast, Toothless walked to the lake to clean up and get a drink, while Hiccup pulled out his journal, scratching down some possible flying techniques and wing positions. Toothless waddled over and observed.

"So, I was thinking that 65 degrees is the way to go for sharp turns, maybe shifting it slightly to 60 for a smoother transition…" Hiccup tapped his pencil to his temple, pondering.

"May I?" Hiccup gestured to the sack of flight gear, the dragon excitedly began running in circles, Hiccup laughed and collected the gear and attempted to put it on the giddy dragon. Before suiting up, Hiccup tested the new flight angle, messing with the pedal that sat at the dragon's side. The faux wing fluttered open with Hiccup's meddling. Toothless practically pushed Hiccup onto him after he dawned his flight suit, taking off before Hiccup was fully settled, Hiccup haphazardly clipped the flight cheat sheet to Toothless.

"You think we're ready for natural flight or more rope practice?" Hiccup yelled over the sound of the wind, leaning down near Toothless' ear and patting him. Toothless shot away from the ground and zipped higher into the sky. Hiccup nearly fell off, he glanced down at his cheat sheet and clicked the pedal into gliding. Hiccup and Toothless had to communicate without any communication going on, Hiccup had mostly grown accustomed to Toothless' flying behaviors and knew what Toothless was going to do before he actually did anything, Toothless did the same for Hiccup, what they had was something that one may never be able to explain. Though, no matter how close they trusted each other, there were some slip-ups, Hiccup would miscalculate a cliff edge and ram Toothless into it, which usually ended with a slap to the face from Toothless' many fins or Toothless would start spinning and diving into the ocean, neither of which Hiccup enjoyed, and would end with a smack right back to Toothless.

They soared around some cliffs, flew through clouds, soared over the ocean, allowing Toothless to get a snack, and more practice for them to adjust, Hiccup to flying and Toothless to his new extremity.

While gliding through the air, they hit a rough patch of fog, Hiccup focusing on his cheat sheet, and Toothless using his other senses to try a guide them out. Toothless pulled them upwards, shooting straight up past the cloud line. Hiccup, feeling more comfortable on Toothless, spread his arms out as if he were flying, whooping and laughing, Toothless was flying in multiple parabola patterns, spinning, and falling backward. Toothless shot up one last time, Hiccup raised his arms and before he knew it, he saw his cheat sheet fly out of its holder. Before he thought it through completely, he dived after the cheat sheet. Toothless screamed as his driver abandoned him and as his wing began failing him. Hiccup caught the cheat sheet and turned to see Toothless spinning out of control.

"Toothless, you gotta, kinda- angle yourself!" Hiccup screamed over the rush of wind, the dragon was too spastic to listen, trying to slow his spinning. Hiccup reached out to get a hold of Toothless. Hiccup felt a stinging sensation on his face, him being whipped in the opposite direction of the dragon and something warm rush across his face. He saw Toothless' tail for round two, so Hiccup backed away. Toothless managed to level himself out and he began to claw the air to Hiccup.

Hiccup saw the ground coming closer and closer, his stomach doing flips and he wasn't able to breathe. Hiccup began to wheeze and his body began to set in a panic, he flailed and began to spin out of control. Toothless screeched and Hiccup whipped his head in the dragon's way, steadying himself some, the dragon gave him a stern look and turn its back toward him. Adrenaline set in, Hiccup tossed the cheat sheet and clambered onto the dragon's back. He strapped himself in and pulled up on the dragon, slamming his foot on the pedal. The recoil from slowing down so fast threw Hiccup off again, Hiccup reached up and grabbed the pedal, maneuvering it with his hand, allowing Toothless to regain composure. Hiccup felt Toothless push him back on and Hiccup took control. He pulled up one more time, the dragon extended its wings to the maximum, screaming in pain from the sudden shock and stretching of his wings, Hiccup clicked the pedal, sending Toothless into a falcon dive. They entered a rocky area, stone pillar-like structures all around them, Hiccup let instinct take over him, steering the dragon and maneuvering the tailpiece correctly, and Toothless helped guide the way his tail should move, dodging everything and swooping around curves and bends faster than they had done before. They made it out mostly unscathed, they smacked into a pillar's side and landed rather clumsily on a platform. Hiccup, tucking and rolling, as he was thrown from Toothless due to their not so graceful landing.

Hiccup gasped and remained in his ball position for quite some time when his adrenaline began to wear off, he unfurled and laid in an x-form on his back. The dragon lumbered over to Hiccup, the riding gear looking pretty beaten up and some of Toothless' scales were missing. Hiccup sat up, grasping his sides as he began to laugh. The dragon was taken back, seeing this creature laugh after everything that had just happened.

After a while, Hiccup took in his surroundings, the sun was already setting and realizing that they had been here before and that they weren't far from the bowl. Hiccup stood and hobbled to the edge of the platform, looking out at the vast ocean. Toothless crawled under his arm, propping Hiccup's hand onto his head. Hiccup look down at the dragon, at his dragon, then at his torn up hands, and then at Toothless' scrapped feet, and he fell back onto his bottom, tears welling in his eyes. He looked over at Toothless who was sitting next to him, a worried look on his face.

"You and I," Hiccup held up his bloody hand to Toothless' equally grueling paw, "are one and the same… we aren't any different, we just try to survive, but we haven't tried to cooperate. Both our worlds only know war… but maybe we could prove something to them… maybe we could…" The screech of a dragon startled Hiccup, he turned his head back to the coast and saw a pack of Nadderheads flying by, they turned to see Hiccup and Toothless standing peacefully next to each other. They began towards the platform, cautiously perching on the edge of the cliff, curious looking on their faces. Hiccup backed away, fear churning his guts. Toothless enclosed Hiccup, circling around his boy, baring his teeth at the Nadder's. The Nadder's looked at the pair, turning their heads to get a better look at them. Hiccup placed a hand on Toothless as a means of calming the tense dragon, Toothless let his guard down a little and look up at Hiccup who was climbing out of his defense. Toothless tried to re-enclose him, but Hiccup held up a hand to him.

"It's alright, bud, it's alright," he stated and turned to face the Nadder's, who was looking at him quizzically. Hiccup held up his hand and slowly moving towards the Nadder's, making no sudden movements. The Nadder's began to back off, some of them flew away, but one of them began to slowly move towards Hiccup, bowing its head slightly. Hiccup mirrored the dragon, lowering his head, but keep his eyes on it, his hand still extended. They made contact with each other shortly after, the dragon tensed at the touch and stood still, Hiccup left his hand there for awhile, the other Nadder's spectating and Toothless in a guard stance ready to protect Hiccup if needed. The Nadder angled its head to expose the under part of its head, Hiccup looked back at Toothless and saw him scratching that exact same part. Hiccup's gaze returned to the Nadder's body and saw that their legs weren't built to scratch that part of the body. Hiccup reached forward and began scratching, the Nadder fell to the ground after Hiccup scratched a certain spot. Hiccup stood there stunned. The Nadder had the same "idiot" grin Toothless usually wore.

Hiccup heard a twig snap in the direction of the forest causing the other Nadder's to fly off, except the stunned one and set Hiccup and Toothless on high alert. Toothless looked at Hiccup, who was already rushing to get on Toothless, if the academy taught him anything, a twig snapping is never a good sign. The duo rushed into the opposite side of the twig snap, hiding in the brush and rocks. Hiccup remembered the Nadder and rushed out, but felt Toothless snag his shirt in his teeth and pull him back into hiding.

"Toothless, I have to he-" Toothless shook his head and nodded in the direction of the Nadder. Hiccup turned as he heard the screeching of the Nadder. Hiccup watched in horror as a hunting party emerged from the tree line, capturing the subdued Nadder in a net, disorienting it with a hordoscope and tying the wings and tail together. The men were screaming orders and cautions when Hiccup saw a massive figure emerge from the trees… his father.

Stoick looked around, sniffing the air and crouching to the ground, examining something. Stoick turned right in the direction of Hiccup and Toothless. Hiccup's heart skipped a beat as his father bellowed:

"There's a Nightfury in the area! Keep your heads down and your arses lower!" Hiccup shoved Toothless in the opposite direction, fearing his father would rush them.

"Toothless, go! Go!" Hiccup ordered, climbing onto the dragon and taking off into the dusk, staying close to the treetops.

They arrived at the bowl shortly after. Hiccup ushered Toothless into the cavern that was hidden behind some ivy and boulders, gasping for air. He looked over at Toothless, who was shaking with fear. Hiccup crawled over to Toothless, who hissed at him. Hiccup sat and stared shock at his friend. Toothless' pupils were only silvers of black, and after a second, they returned to their normal size and fullness. Toothless began whining slightly. Hiccup gulped and attempted one more time to touch his dragon. The dragon was more willing this time and coaxed his hand to scratch his neck. Hiccup felt a rough patch of missing scales, probably from earlier. He went to his sack and pulled out some salve and some clean cloth. He began dabbing, swabbing, cleaning, and bandaging the dragon's wounds.

"I want you to stay in here tonight, please…" Hiccup looked at Toothless who begrudgingly nodded. Hiccup smiled, said his biddings and began to head out of the forest.

An ax flew right in front of Hiccup's face. He froze in his tracks and looked in the direction in which the ax came. The blonde goddess was there in all her glory.

"Whoops, didn't see ya there!" She giggled, Astrid came out of the shadows. She was all giddy and she jumped towards Hiccup, "it was so exciting Hiccup! You'll never believe what just happened! I got invited to a hunting party and we caught a Nadderhead! I was the one to fire the net shot, and guess what?! It was from your bolas design!" She was speaking in turrets after that, saying things like we might be picked for the competition this semester, and that the target is the Nadder, and that we should start studying up on Nadder's. Hiccup couldn't fake enthusiasm since he knew that that Nadder wasn't going to make it and it was his fault because so…

"Astrid, that's great. Listen, I uh... I-" Astrid cut him off. She had finally got a good look at him and she shrieked.

"Hiccup, what the hell?" She grabbed his arm, lifting it up and examining him. Hiccup looked down at himself and saw his clothes were torn and he was sporting some decent scraps.

"Please, don't ask and no hospital either…" Hiccup cringed. Astrid eyed him, still holding his arm. She looked pissed, but she sighed and nodded.

"Fine, but one condition," she paused and breathed in, her face red, she spoke "you have to let me help you clean up, to make sure you do it right, knowing you, you'd only half-ass it and end up with an infection… or something…" Hiccup stood there even more in shock, his face bright red as well.

"Y-yeah sure… okay." He said. Astrid wouldn't look at him, she grabbed her ax and led them out of the forest, her hand still clutched around his arm.

00000

Now, I feel as if I must explain Astrid's motives here. I'll first state that she has no ulterior motives, she just took to heart what Dr. Tennant had said to her and she wants to make sure Hiccup is okay. She had some, not yet explained, an event in her past, plus her and Hiccup are pretty close, so, like I said, she just wants to make sure he's okay.

Big thanks to: osito1r, luke payne, gogotore1, g9agtroller, dbzgtfan2004, SukiLei, Rycarl, Musiclover435, Guardian of the Inheritance, GS-Shads, DragonPearl7, Danshep, Elemental-master0506, pauliausvalincius, and robbiehickey2000 for liking/favoriting/ whatever (y'all awesome, I lurve ya) this shitty story.


	16. Chapter 16

Hiccup sat shirtless on his bed in front of Astrid who was wiping off the dirt and grime from his face. He looked off to his left, out his window. Thankfully Fishlegs wasn't in the room with him. Hiccup had no idea where he was off to this late at night, not that he kept tabs on him, just curious more than anything.

"Will-will you at least tell me what happened this time?" Astrid asked quietly, dabbing the cut on his face with warm water. Hiccup's heart sank. He trusted Astrid, he really did, but after seeing her excitement subduing the Nadderhead from earlier.

"Just another experiment-" Astrid cut him off.

"Hiccup…" She sighed.

"Astrid, didn't we already discuss this? Why won't you believe me?" He hated lying to her, even though he really wasn't, he was testing out a new invention on his dragon that failed, kinda, but she couldn't know about Toothless.

"I-I, I know, I'm sorry... It's just… Maybe you should take it easy on your inventions for awhile, or-or maybe have me be there next time, so you don't get yourself killed…" Astrid blushed a little. She started to rub salve on his cuts and bruises and then covering each with a bandage. "Dr. Tennant said to take this tonic every night for a week and this pain meds for awhile," Astrid said, pulling them out from her side pouch.

Hiccup looked disgusted at the bottles.

"I can't stomach that crap," Hiccup gagged, remembering the taste of the tonic from a previous encounter from it as a child. Astrid gave him a look that he knew too well, either he drinks it or a limb would be broken. He groaned.

She measured out a tablespoon and drank it, or at least Hiccup thought.

"H-hey, what're doing?" Hiccup asked her. She stood there for a second and then slowly approached him, shaking slightly. Hiccup slowly crawled backwards on his bed, worried what she was going to do. She stood in front of him and slowly crawled onto the bed into his lap. She swung one of her legs over and straddled him, both of her legs on either side of him and her bottom sitting on his thighs.

Hiccup thought he died and was going to heaven. He couldn't tell who's heart was beating faster, not that he was focusing on that, with a cute girl like Astrid straddling him, his mind was focusing on keep a member of his body under control. It took all his mental willpower that he didn't realize that Astrid had his collar grasped firmly in her hands. She jerk his head forward and smashed her mouth against his. Hiccup's heart jumped into his throat and his stomach was doing flips. She just sat there, her lips pressed against his. He felt her mouth opening up and a liquid being poured into his mouth, he immediately wanted to recoil when he tasted the tonic, but Astrid was kissing him, so he put on his big boy pants and powered through it. He placed his shaking hands on her waist and slowly deepened the kiss.

"Hhhhhooollllyyyy shit," Astrid gasped and shot her head in the direction of the dorm door, which was open, and Fishlegs and Val standing there. Astrid's face exploded crimson and quickly shoved herself off Hiccup and booked it out the door. Hiccup sat dazed on his bed.

Hiccup noticed that Astrid wasn't the first one to class the next day, in fact, she was almost late. She showed up last minute and didn't do her usual ritual of waving at Hiccup. Throughout out the class, Hiccup stared at the back of Astrid's head, paying little attention to what the lecture is actually about.

"As the semester draws to its end, assessment's are coming up. In fact, how your test scores go will determine the champions for the first round of the tournament!" Gobber announced, "as the cold weather draws in, the training periods will cease. So we'll have one more class training session and then each pair will go against the dragon by themselves…. Have I made myself clear?" Gobber asked. Everyone nodded, "good, then class will dismiss early today, wait, actually, every pair line up and come up here," the pairs lined up. Val and Fishlegs, Snotlout and Tuff, and Hiccup and Astrid. Astrid wouldn't look at Hiccup when they stood next to each other.

Gobber had each pair pull out a piece of paper, when Astrid and Hiccup got to the front of the class, Hiccup reached into the basket that held the crumpled up paper, and pulled one out. He unfurled the paper and read: _Nadderhead_.

"Ah, the Nadder! Nasty breed they are, I'd do some studying if I were you," Gobber told them. Hiccup looked over at Astrid who was already grabbing her stuff to read. He quickly rushed to get his stuff and chased after her.

"A-Astrid! Astrid wait!" He called after her. Unfortunately for Astrid, the halls were empty since they were released early, so Hiccup caught up to her easily. He grabbed her arm which she shook out of his grip, but she did stop, still not looking at him.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have kissed you back, it's my fault and..." Hiccup began to ramble. Astrid looked at him shocked. She punched him in the shoulder. He stopped rambling and rubbed the area looking at her confused.

"Why on earth do you think it's your fault?" She exclaimed, her face bursting into a red color. "Why do you always _assume_ it's your fault? God, Hiccup, I don't know what came over me last night and I'm sorry, I should've asked first, but don't blame my mistake on yourself!" She shouted, looking him straight in the eyes. Hiccup looked taken back, his heart sinking slightly.

"It-it was a mistake?" He asked, trying to hide the hurt from his voice. Astrid stepped back, pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head.

"N-no, that came out wrong…" She sighed, she bit her lip slightly. "It wasn't a mistake, that's not what I meant, I-I just meant, I should've asked first before or even told you what I was doing…. I just… Agh!" her legs started to tremble and she hid her face with her hands, "I like you, Hiccup, in some strange way I find you cute and in a very real way, I find you to be a genius… and that's a-appealing to me…" She said, looking away from him.

Hiccup wrapped his arms around Astrid, who jumped slightly, but quickly wrapped her arms around his midsection. Unfortunately, Hiccup was slightly shorter than Astrid, so he couldn't rest his chin on her head or even kiss her on her forehead without having to boost himself slightly. She pulled away from him and smiled, tears springing to her eyes.

"H-hey," Hiccup took his thumbs a rubbed the falling tears off her cheeks, "there's no need for that," he smiled at her and brought head head down slightly so he could kiss her forehead.

"I-I'm sorry," she said wiping her remaining tears and nose with her hands, "I'm pathetic…" she sniffled, looking away from him. Hiccup grasped the sides of her head, turning her head towards him. She looked him in the eyes.

"Astrid! You're anything but pathetic, you're brilliant, smart, the best dragon hunter I've seen, a-and… and… you're really… cute…" Hiccup got quieter with each thing he said about her. She stared at him for a second before laughing. She grabbed his hand and held it it.

"Ready to go research Nadders, ace?" She asked. He nodded and they headed towards the library, their hands intertwined.

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I'm back! Kinda! I guess! I don't know yet! I'm sorry! Writer's block is a bitch. Here's a Hicstrid chapter to make up for it. Enjoy!


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